Giverny's Pond by Monet
1905 Water Landscapes
2015 SOLD for $ 54M including premium
In 1904 Claude Monet is seduced by his own work, not as an artist but as a gardener. Water lilies are now invading his pond at Giverny. Their floating leaves constitute a perfectly flat surface which is unique as an artistic theme and the exquisite colors of the flowers meet the Art Nouveau sensitivity of the time.
The artist begins a synthesis of this new theme with his concern from the previous twenty years for the changing colors and reflections under various time and weather. He had the good fortune to catch in his own garden the most subtle theme of modern painting.
The paintings of the first year of the Nymphéas series are very rare on the art market. One of them, 81 x 100 cm, was sold for £ 18.5 million including premium by Sotheby's on 19 June 2007. In this close-up view, the edge of the pond is already off the field, also providing an impression of infinity that anticipates Mondrian.
In 1905, the water lilies are more sparse to offer a better role to reflections that became recognizable although the trees are still out of field. The plants form a floating cohort simulating a nice horizontal movement.
A view in clear weather under a gentle sun, oil on canvas 90 x 100 cm, was sold for $ 44M including premium by Christie's on November 7, 2012.
On May 5 in New York, Sotheby's sells an oil on canvas 81 x 100 cm, lot 30 estimated $ 30M. Also dated 1905, it shows the blocks at the water surface in an atmosphere of early or late hour providing a superb harmony of deep blues and greens.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's :
The artist begins a synthesis of this new theme with his concern from the previous twenty years for the changing colors and reflections under various time and weather. He had the good fortune to catch in his own garden the most subtle theme of modern painting.
The paintings of the first year of the Nymphéas series are very rare on the art market. One of them, 81 x 100 cm, was sold for £ 18.5 million including premium by Sotheby's on 19 June 2007. In this close-up view, the edge of the pond is already off the field, also providing an impression of infinity that anticipates Mondrian.
In 1905, the water lilies are more sparse to offer a better role to reflections that became recognizable although the trees are still out of field. The plants form a floating cohort simulating a nice horizontal movement.
A view in clear weather under a gentle sun, oil on canvas 90 x 100 cm, was sold for $ 44M including premium by Christie's on November 7, 2012.
On May 5 in New York, Sotheby's sells an oil on canvas 81 x 100 cm, lot 30 estimated $ 30M. Also dated 1905, it shows the blocks at the water surface in an atmosphere of early or late hour providing a superb harmony of deep blues and greens.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's :
AuctionUpdate: Sotheby's Chairmen George Wachter and Patti Wong battle for Monet’s ‘Nymphéas,' selling for $54m pic.twitter.com/4mlTAOvKY9
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) May 6, 20151905 Monet overwhelmed by his Nymphéas
2012 SOLD 44 M$ including premium
Continuously in search of the harmony of colors and lights, Monet could not ignore the water lilies. When he installed some of them in his pool at Giverny, it was for the pleasure of gardening. The infinite variety of shapes and reflections pushed Monet to make the Nymphéas his favorite subject.
Constable had been the painter of the wind. Monet was the artist of the water surface. After the development of Impressionism, the Nymphéas series is the second revolution brought about by Monet in art history.
In June 19, 2007, Sotheby's sold £ 18.5 million including premium an oil on canvas, 81 x 100 cm. Dated 1904, it demonstrates the first systematic experiments on this subject: the horizon disappears to let the water remaining alone in space. The green reflections are almost abstract, already.
The oil on canvas, 90 x 100 cm, for sale by Christie's in New York on November 7, is dated in the following year, 1905. The water lilies have a botanical accuracy, the more readable reflections are a better tribute to the pleasure of the garden. It is estimated $ 30M, and illustrated in the release shared by Artdaily.
Durand-Ruel was the first to understand and support the transformation of the art of Monet. In 1909, he assembled in an exhibition 48 Nymphéas by Monet, including the painting now for sale at Christie's. Through this unique theme, careful observers could detect the infinite variety of the artistic creation.
POST SALE COMMENT
By its date and quality, this painting is one of the most outstanding from the Nympheas series: $ 44M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's :
Constable had been the painter of the wind. Monet was the artist of the water surface. After the development of Impressionism, the Nymphéas series is the second revolution brought about by Monet in art history.
In June 19, 2007, Sotheby's sold £ 18.5 million including premium an oil on canvas, 81 x 100 cm. Dated 1904, it demonstrates the first systematic experiments on this subject: the horizon disappears to let the water remaining alone in space. The green reflections are almost abstract, already.
The oil on canvas, 90 x 100 cm, for sale by Christie's in New York on November 7, is dated in the following year, 1905. The water lilies have a botanical accuracy, the more readable reflections are a better tribute to the pleasure of the garden. It is estimated $ 30M, and illustrated in the release shared by Artdaily.
Durand-Ruel was the first to understand and support the transformation of the art of Monet. In 1909, he assembled in an exhibition 48 Nymphéas by Monet, including the painting now for sale at Christie's. Through this unique theme, careful observers could detect the infinite variety of the artistic creation.
POST SALE COMMENT
By its date and quality, this painting is one of the most outstanding from the Nympheas series: $ 44M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's :
1906 Monet and the Passion of Water
2014 SOLD 32 M£ including premium
Unsold at Christie's in 2010 with an excessive estimate, a beautiful painting of Nymphéas by Monet is now more reasonably estimated £ 20M, for sale by Sotheby's in London on June 23, lot 17.
Here is how I announced in 2010 this masterpiece that was previously sold in 2000 :
Claude Monet is the painter of the elusive. His studies of light variations have transformed the Western art. He should not be regarded as a leader, but rather as a great creator.
And the Durand-Ruel gallery was a great instigator of talent. In 1905, Monet is 65 years old, already. He departed from the excitement of the life in Paris to enjoy his garden at Giverny. An exhibition project for Durand-Ruel made his passion. The exhibition took place in 1909, and Monet found there the theme that monopolized his art until the end of his life: the water lilies in his garden.
This series of "Nymphéas" mark the total success of an impossible challenge: to show in painting the transparency of water. The flowers are seen obliquely, with perspective, lighting and reflections being different each time. They are widely spaced, and between them is coming the incredible illusion: the observer sees the surface of the water. They are not abstract, far away, but the lack of horizon has certainly influenced the non-figurative art.
On May 8th 2000, Christie's sold for $ 20.9 million including premium an oil on canvas, 90 x 100 cm. This painting has all the qualities. Made in 1906, it was one of the highlights of the exhibition of 1909. The light is established by very subtle pastel shades, and the reflections are superb.
POST SALE COMMENT
This painting is one of the masterpieces from Monet's early Nymphéas. It was sold for £ 32 million including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's :
Here is how I announced in 2010 this masterpiece that was previously sold in 2000 :
Claude Monet is the painter of the elusive. His studies of light variations have transformed the Western art. He should not be regarded as a leader, but rather as a great creator.
And the Durand-Ruel gallery was a great instigator of talent. In 1905, Monet is 65 years old, already. He departed from the excitement of the life in Paris to enjoy his garden at Giverny. An exhibition project for Durand-Ruel made his passion. The exhibition took place in 1909, and Monet found there the theme that monopolized his art until the end of his life: the water lilies in his garden.
This series of "Nymphéas" mark the total success of an impossible challenge: to show in painting the transparency of water. The flowers are seen obliquely, with perspective, lighting and reflections being different each time. They are widely spaced, and between them is coming the incredible illusion: the observer sees the surface of the water. They are not abstract, far away, but the lack of horizon has certainly influenced the non-figurative art.
On May 8th 2000, Christie's sold for $ 20.9 million including premium an oil on canvas, 90 x 100 cm. This painting has all the qualities. Made in 1906, it was one of the highlights of the exhibition of 1909. The light is established by very subtle pastel shades, and the reflections are superb.
POST SALE COMMENT
This painting is one of the masterpieces from Monet's early Nymphéas. It was sold for £ 32 million including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's :
1907 The Lengthy Evolution of Monet's Pond
2014 SOLD 27 M$ including premium
In 1893, when Claude Monet obtains the administrative authorization to create a pond in his garden at Giverny, he already knows that it will be a laboratory for his artistic creation. He was then interested in the reflections in the water of the tall trees and of the Japanese bridge.
Monet is an amateur but careful and skilled horticulturist. Without having his original preference, the water lilies impose themselves as his most prolific theme, up to obsession. Unlike the ivy on the wall, they will not cover the entire available surface. Spreading their leaves flush with water, they materialize in perspective the real surface of the pond.
From 1904 to 1908, Monet produced his first series of Nymphéas. With more than 60 paintings which he wants all different from one another, the artist expresses the most subtle variations of color and light, changing the distance and population of the flowers, the importance of the reflections from the trees and the expressive power of color.
The horizon disappears, the details become abstract but the botanical accuracy remains. One of the first trials in this new figurative style, dated 1904, 81 x 100 cm, was sold for £ 18.5 million including premium by Sotheby's on 19 June 2007.
A beautiful fleet of well colored water lilies dated 1905, 90 x 100 cm, was sold for $ 44 million including premium at Christie's on November 7, 2012.
A particularly poetic oil version in pastel tones dated 1906, 90 x 100 cm, was sold for $ 20.9 million including premium at Christie's on May 8, 2000 but failed to meet in 2010 its new estimate of £ 30M.
An oil on canvas 100 x 80 cm painted in 1907 for sale by Christie's in New York on May 6 comes in the following of that trend with soft shades more highlighting the reflections than the botany. It includes an innovation of Monet from that year : he realized that he was no longer a painter of landscapes and experienced the vertical format.
This painting is estimated $ 25M.
POST SALE COMMENT
This good example of the Nymphéas series came from the Clark collection and was fresh on the market. It was sold for $ 27M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's :
Monet is an amateur but careful and skilled horticulturist. Without having his original preference, the water lilies impose themselves as his most prolific theme, up to obsession. Unlike the ivy on the wall, they will not cover the entire available surface. Spreading their leaves flush with water, they materialize in perspective the real surface of the pond.
From 1904 to 1908, Monet produced his first series of Nymphéas. With more than 60 paintings which he wants all different from one another, the artist expresses the most subtle variations of color and light, changing the distance and population of the flowers, the importance of the reflections from the trees and the expressive power of color.
The horizon disappears, the details become abstract but the botanical accuracy remains. One of the first trials in this new figurative style, dated 1904, 81 x 100 cm, was sold for £ 18.5 million including premium by Sotheby's on 19 June 2007.
A beautiful fleet of well colored water lilies dated 1905, 90 x 100 cm, was sold for $ 44 million including premium at Christie's on November 7, 2012.
A particularly poetic oil version in pastel tones dated 1906, 90 x 100 cm, was sold for $ 20.9 million including premium at Christie's on May 8, 2000 but failed to meet in 2010 its new estimate of £ 30M.
An oil on canvas 100 x 80 cm painted in 1907 for sale by Christie's in New York on May 6 comes in the following of that trend with soft shades more highlighting the reflections than the botany. It includes an innovation of Monet from that year : he realized that he was no longer a painter of landscapes and experienced the vertical format.
This painting is estimated $ 25M.
POST SALE COMMENT
This good example of the Nymphéas series came from the Clark collection and was fresh on the market. It was sold for $ 27M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's :
1908 Tirelessly painting the Nympheas
2015 SOLD for $ 34M including premium
From 1905 to 1908, Claude Monet is tirelessly working on the theme of the water lilies in his pond, yet all these artworks are different. The technique is in evolution throughout this period with a progressively thinner paint layer and longer brush strokes.
His focus within this subject is also changing. Controlling the effects of the surface of water, he can scatter the position of the leaves. The botanical accuracy of the blossoms is superseded by a touch closer to earlier impressionism. The rigor of perspective is no longer necessary: the horizon is pushed out of field and from 1907 the artist positions also some paintings vertically.
He still uses the process that was so successful to him in previous decades, by installing several easels and working from canvas to canvas depending on time and weather.
The main subject of the artist is not the pool but the color. The paintings executed towards the final year of this fertile period can be seen as a culmination of his research. From that time, long before the dissolution of the shapes tested at the end of his life, Monet is already a precursor to Rothko and Richter.
On November 5 in New York, Sotheby's sells an oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm painted around 1908, lot 22 estimated $ 30M.
His focus within this subject is also changing. Controlling the effects of the surface of water, he can scatter the position of the leaves. The botanical accuracy of the blossoms is superseded by a touch closer to earlier impressionism. The rigor of perspective is no longer necessary: the horizon is pushed out of field and from 1907 the artist positions also some paintings vertically.
He still uses the process that was so successful to him in previous decades, by installing several easels and working from canvas to canvas depending on time and weather.
The main subject of the artist is not the pool but the color. The paintings executed towards the final year of this fertile period can be seen as a culmination of his research. From that time, long before the dissolution of the shapes tested at the end of his life, Monet is already a precursor to Rothko and Richter.
On November 5 in New York, Sotheby's sells an oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm painted around 1908, lot 22 estimated $ 30M.
A rare Blue Period Picasso + an iconic Monet Waterlilies have joined our November sales: http://t.co/yPy4smKRK7 pic.twitter.com/6xMA4XX30Y
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) October 9, 20151913 Pond and Rose Arches
2015 SOLD for $ 20.4M including premium
According to Wikipedia in French, Claude Monet summed up his own career in a short formula that can be considered excessive : a man who was interested by nothing in the world excepted his painting - and also his garden and flowers. This quote is not dated.
After his long stay in Venice in 1908, he does not leave Giverny. He exerts his gardening skill with the same care as his painting, but sometimes nature takes over, as in the 1910 floods.
On May 5 in New York, Sotheby's sells an oil on canvas 73 x 100 cm painted in 1913, lot 47 estimated $ 18M.
The composition is divided into two equal parts. The upper image shows the rose arches. The sky, so often missing in his series of Nymphéas, reappears. The absence of the tall trees confirms that the garden is the main theme of this view. The foreground shows the usual groups of water lilies playing with the reflections from the arches.
This garden is the pride of Monet. The colors that swirl in the heat of summer remind the small size landscapes of the Midi made by Renoir in his later career.
After his long stay in Venice in 1908, he does not leave Giverny. He exerts his gardening skill with the same care as his painting, but sometimes nature takes over, as in the 1910 floods.
On May 5 in New York, Sotheby's sells an oil on canvas 73 x 100 cm painted in 1913, lot 47 estimated $ 18M.
The composition is divided into two equal parts. The upper image shows the rose arches. The sky, so often missing in his series of Nymphéas, reappears. The absence of the tall trees confirms that the garden is the main theme of this view. The foreground shows the usual groups of water lilies playing with the reflections from the arches.
This garden is the pride of Monet. The colors that swirl in the heat of summer remind the small size landscapes of the Midi made by Renoir in his later career.
#AuctionUpdate: Monet's 'Bassin aux nymphéas, les rosiers,' from 1913, sells to an Asian private collector for $20.4m pic.twitter.com/KcHCsLAZ7O
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) May 6, 2015
1914-1917 Growth of the Irises
2015 SOLD for £ 10.8M including premium
After several difficult years, Monet had a new creative fervor in 1914. He starts his large decorative project envisioned a few years earlier and which will eventually reconstruct in a showroom the atmosphere of his garden under the title Grandes Décorations.
He executes in a few years 250 oil paintings which are variations preparing this theme. He does not date these paintings, most of which remained unknown until his death. Yet they are highly innovative.
The mural purpose leads the artist to experiment with very large dimensions. Beyond about 200 Nymphéas included in this group, he explores new themes including the irises that grow at the edge of his pond.
On June 23 in London, Christie's sells Iris mauves, oil on canvas 200 x 100 cm painted between 1914 and 1917, lot 12 estimated £ 6M.
The tall and narrow format is unusual but perfectly suited to this portrait of wild flowers that anticipates O'Keeffe. The theme is also the pretext for a superb study of colors with these mauve flowers rising from green grass to be displayed over a background that gradually turns from blue to pink.
He executes in a few years 250 oil paintings which are variations preparing this theme. He does not date these paintings, most of which remained unknown until his death. Yet they are highly innovative.
The mural purpose leads the artist to experiment with very large dimensions. Beyond about 200 Nymphéas included in this group, he explores new themes including the irises that grow at the edge of his pond.
On June 23 in London, Christie's sells Iris mauves, oil on canvas 200 x 100 cm painted between 1914 and 1917, lot 12 estimated £ 6M.
The tall and narrow format is unusual but perfectly suited to this portrait of wild flowers that anticipates O'Keeffe. The theme is also the pretext for a superb study of colors with these mauve flowers rising from green grass to be displayed over a background that gradually turns from blue to pink.
From Monet to Miró: highlights from Christie's Impressionist & Modern sale http://t.co/77dgF9K6u7 pic.twitter.com/HYYHwl3cHC
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) June 3, 2015
1917-1919 Monet in his Garden
2010 SOLD 24.7 M$ including premium
During the last twenty years of his life, Monet maintained the pond in his garden at Giverny. His paintings of nympheas, however, are not repetitive but evolving. He put his subtle vision at the service of ever-changing views on the role and techniques of art.
Around 1906, as a true magician of light and perspective, Monet uses reflection to show the position in space of the invisible surface of the water. His touchis then impressionistic, with pastel tones.
Ten years later, he turns to more decorative effects on larger areas of canvas. The surface of the water is still controlled, but the line is sharper and the colors are more vivid. The nympheas of that time made Monet being considered as a major influencer of abstract art.
On June 24, 2008, Christie's sold £ 40.9 million including premium a large 1919 painting, 100 x 201 cm. The image is focused exclusively on the pond with no shore and no horizon.
The oil on canvas for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 2 has similar qualities. Painted between 1917 and 1919, 98 x 198 cm, it is less quiet, with contrasting colors and swirling lines. It is illustrated on the press release shared by Artdaily.
Sold to benefit a foundation helping young artists, it is estimated $ 20M.
POST SALE COMMENT
These Nymphéas were sold $ 24.7 million including premium. This result is very close to the estimate. I am not surprised as this painting did not have the same beautiful serenity as the specimen sold two years ago.
Around 1906, as a true magician of light and perspective, Monet uses reflection to show the position in space of the invisible surface of the water. His touchis then impressionistic, with pastel tones.
Ten years later, he turns to more decorative effects on larger areas of canvas. The surface of the water is still controlled, but the line is sharper and the colors are more vivid. The nympheas of that time made Monet being considered as a major influencer of abstract art.
On June 24, 2008, Christie's sold £ 40.9 million including premium a large 1919 painting, 100 x 201 cm. The image is focused exclusively on the pond with no shore and no horizon.
The oil on canvas for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 2 has similar qualities. Painted between 1917 and 1919, 98 x 198 cm, it is less quiet, with contrasting colors and swirling lines. It is illustrated on the press release shared by Artdaily.
Sold to benefit a foundation helping young artists, it is estimated $ 20M.
POST SALE COMMENT
These Nymphéas were sold $ 24.7 million including premium. This result is very close to the estimate. I am not surprised as this painting did not have the same beautiful serenity as the specimen sold two years ago.
1919 Le Bassin aux Nymphéas by Monet
2008 SOLD 41 M£ including premium by Christie's
Shared by Wikimedia :
1919 The Garden of Victory
2016 SOLD for $ 27M including premium
Times are hard for Claude Monet. He had lost his son Jean just before the outbreak of the First World War. His sight becomes deficient. He decides to stay in Giverny whatever the future events and compensates his isolation by declaring his patriotism alongside his friend Clémenceau.
He builds in 1915 the studio in which he will create the Grandes Décorations, his new series on the theme of the nymphéas. With this project of dedicating a full exhibition room to a circular view of the pond, he is a great innovator. He does not express the nature but instead the feeling of serenity which had become so rare and precious in those tragic times.
Peace is back. Monet is a painter and he insists to contribute in the celebration of victory through his art. The Grandes Décorations modify his ideas about the composition. He experiments with two new panoramic formats, 100 x 200 cm and 130 x 200 cm, which make more sense to the focusing of the picture onto the pond with its plants and its reflections but without shore or sky.
In the wording of his time, Monet becomes a decorator, favoring effect and atmosphere rather than the figuration. In the language of our time, he is a precursor of the abstract sensitivity.
However, Monet works primarily for himself. He had not given away any significant painting since 1912. In November 1919 he nevertheless accepts to sell to Bernheim-Jeune four of his new Bassins aux nymphéas 100 x 200 cm. This set is one of the highlights of his distinguished career : one of these paintings was sold for £ 41M including premium by Christie's on June 24, 2008.
Another canvas from this group was split into two equal parts 100 x 100 cm before 1944 by an unidentified fool. The left side is now in the Tel Aviv Museum. The right side is estimated $ 25M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 12, lot 27 C.
He builds in 1915 the studio in which he will create the Grandes Décorations, his new series on the theme of the nymphéas. With this project of dedicating a full exhibition room to a circular view of the pond, he is a great innovator. He does not express the nature but instead the feeling of serenity which had become so rare and precious in those tragic times.
Peace is back. Monet is a painter and he insists to contribute in the celebration of victory through his art. The Grandes Décorations modify his ideas about the composition. He experiments with two new panoramic formats, 100 x 200 cm and 130 x 200 cm, which make more sense to the focusing of the picture onto the pond with its plants and its reflections but without shore or sky.
In the wording of his time, Monet becomes a decorator, favoring effect and atmosphere rather than the figuration. In the language of our time, he is a precursor of the abstract sensitivity.
However, Monet works primarily for himself. He had not given away any significant painting since 1912. In November 1919 he nevertheless accepts to sell to Bernheim-Jeune four of his new Bassins aux nymphéas 100 x 200 cm. This set is one of the highlights of his distinguished career : one of these paintings was sold for £ 41M including premium by Christie's on June 24, 2008.
Another canvas from this group was split into two equal parts 100 x 100 cm before 1944 by an unidentified fool. The left side is now in the Tel Aviv Museum. The right side is estimated $ 25M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 12, lot 27 C.
Art Advisors Opine on May Sales: It’s a Buyer’s Market https://t.co/TAruxZxTMA pic.twitter.com/WdVWeVFhUx
— Art Market Monitor (@artmarket) May 5, 2016
>1918 The Bridge over the nymphéas
2014 SOLD 15.8 M$ including premium
The series of the Nymphéas was acclaimed by the connoisseurs and Claude Monet was already famous. In 1918, aged 78, he innovates once more by relying once again on the theme of the Japanese bridge.
He did not need an addendum to his glory, and this somehow secretive last series was used to satisfy his desire to create. These oils on canvas made up to 1924 cannot be dated with accuracy.
The curved bridge over the water lilies is an idea of the artist, inspired by Japanese prints and realized during the development of the pond. Monet enjoyed to be photographed at this place of his garden and made an interesting series of Impressionist paintings in 1899.
The art of Monet is a continuous learning of artistic creation that spans over half a century. In this last series of the Japanese Bridges, we find the subtle variations of light from a work to another, from flaming to night. There are also the loss of the horizon, as in the Nymphéas, or the sketch of a fading bridge like Waterloo's in London.
However, this series is not a synthesis but a new revolution, once again too ahead of its time to be understood by his contemporaries. The figurative line disappears almost completely in favor of the exploding colors.
The technique also is new. The material is thick, worked by the addition of new layers on still wet surfaces. The result of this sublime magma is an environment in which the viewer can be wrapped.
It is often said that Monet is a precursor of abstract art. This series is the major support of this theory. These last Japanese bridges by Monet anticipate Rothko by three decades with a practice of progressive mixing of colors that is close to what Richter will do much later.
A Japanese Bridge from this series, 90 x 116 cm, is estimated $ 12M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 7. Seen from afar, this work is a nice figurative sketch. Seen at any distance, it is a very good demonstration of the essential role of color in the expressionist art of the twentieth century.
This painting is illustrated in the blog post shared by Sotheby's.
POST SALE COMMENT
The result, $ 15.8M including premium, confirms the importance of this later series by Monet.
He did not need an addendum to his glory, and this somehow secretive last series was used to satisfy his desire to create. These oils on canvas made up to 1924 cannot be dated with accuracy.
The curved bridge over the water lilies is an idea of the artist, inspired by Japanese prints and realized during the development of the pond. Monet enjoyed to be photographed at this place of his garden and made an interesting series of Impressionist paintings in 1899.
The art of Monet is a continuous learning of artistic creation that spans over half a century. In this last series of the Japanese Bridges, we find the subtle variations of light from a work to another, from flaming to night. There are also the loss of the horizon, as in the Nymphéas, or the sketch of a fading bridge like Waterloo's in London.
However, this series is not a synthesis but a new revolution, once again too ahead of its time to be understood by his contemporaries. The figurative line disappears almost completely in favor of the exploding colors.
The technique also is new. The material is thick, worked by the addition of new layers on still wet surfaces. The result of this sublime magma is an environment in which the viewer can be wrapped.
It is often said that Monet is a precursor of abstract art. This series is the major support of this theory. These last Japanese bridges by Monet anticipate Rothko by three decades with a practice of progressive mixing of colors that is close to what Richter will do much later.
A Japanese Bridge from this series, 90 x 116 cm, is estimated $ 12M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 7. Seen from afar, this work is a nice figurative sketch. Seen at any distance, it is a very good demonstration of the essential role of color in the expressionist art of the twentieth century.
This painting is illustrated in the blog post shared by Sotheby's.
POST SALE COMMENT
The result, $ 15.8M including premium, confirms the importance of this later series by Monet.
