Claude Monet - Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies, 1899

About the Print:

Monet spent the last three decades of his life building a garden at Giverny specifically to paint it. The pond, the bridge, the willows -- none of it was accidental. He designed the water garden with the same intention he brought to the canvas, redirecting a local stream, planting the lilies himself, lobbying local authorities for permission to flood the land. The bridge over the pond of water lilies was his most painted subject, appearing in over two dozen works across different seasons and light conditions.

This 1900 painting is widely considered the finest of them. The bridge is still recognisable as a structure but it's losing the argument with the surrounding green. The willows cascade from the top of the frame. The water lilies sit on a surface that reflects more than it reveals. Everything is dissolving slightly into everything else, which was exactly the point.

Monet was going blind by the time he painted most of the later water lily series. The 1900 works were made before the deterioration became serious, while his colour perception was still intact. You can see it in the precision of the greens, the way the light sits differently on the near bank versus the far one.