Monet: Water Lilies: The Complete Series

by Jean-Dominique Rey, Denis Rouart

Monet, the father of French impressionist painting, devoted twenty-five years to a series of paintings of the water lilies that floated in the pond of his lavish garden in Giverny. This volume is dedicated to those paintings, and opens with a biography of Monet that links the artist’s childhood passion for nature and for drawing to his later fascination with light. Monet’s experiments with how to best capture light and its effect on the sky and on water at different times of the day include paintings such as , Impression, Sunrise (1872), which inspired the name of the impressionist movement. A critical text analyzes Monet’s ingenuity, audacity, and modernity, as well as his influence on other artists, from Zao Wou-ki to music to Shirley Goldfarb. This definitive catalog is completed by 210 color reproductions of the water lily paintings with annotated captions, period shots of Giverny by photographers such as Cartier-Bresson, and rare documents including Monet’s personal letters to his optometrist regarding his failing eyesight, which has been linked to his development of the impressionist style. The large-format volume features an eight-page gatefold of the murals at the Orangerie in Paris, and it serves as both an accessible introductory work and a complete reference guide to an important component in the history of art.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

178 pages, Hardcover

First published September 9, 2008

Reviews

[Ilse · Rating 4 out of 5]

No other artwork will make me feel like the Waterlilies bij Monet, standing in the rooms of L'Orangerie, in the presence of these works almost made me cry. I'm happy to have read this book, to find out more about this painter and the waterlilies. Will definitely try to find more information on him and the rest of the impressionist painters :)

[Aida · Rating 5 out of 5]

Llevaba años pensando en comprar este libro, pero siempre me decía que ya llegaría el día. Y sí, ese día llegó en una pequeña librería de segunda mano en Madrid. Llevé el libro en brazos todo el día, y puedo asegurar que valió completamente la pena.

No tengo ningún libro tan bonito como este. Las pinturas son desplegables, muestran el tamaño real de cada cuadro y explican dónde está expuesto. Cada vez que lo abro me quedo embobada, y todos los que lo miran me dicen lo precioso que es.

El arte no necesita palabras, y este libro es la prueba perfecta de ello.

[Gerald Thomson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautiful reproductions of Monet’s water oriented paintings, but not a lot of substance to the text. Though excellent points are made about Monet’s emphasis on time over space and his up-close perspective, most of the text is written in academic, esoteric language that will not help the layperson with understanding the significance of Monet’s work to modern painting.