Drawing Water

A favourite art gallery in Paris is the Musée de l'Orangerie because it houses 8 of Claude Monet’s wonderful Water Lillies mural paintings. Claude Monet is a favourite artist, a pioneer of the Impressionist movement, which takes its name from one his compositions: Impression, soleil levant painted in 1872.

In 1883, Monet moved to his beautiful property in Normandy at Giverny - another recommended place to visit. From the end of the 1890s until his death in 1926, the artist devoted himself to the Nymphéas (Water Lilies) cycle. Monet conceived several works specifically for the museum and gave his first two large panels to the Nation as a symbol of peace, the day after the armistice, on November 12, 1918. He also conceived a unique space, composed of two elliptical rooms within the museum, giving the viewer the “illusion of an endless whole, of a wave without horizon and without shore”. The Water Lilies were installed according to Monet’s plan at the museum in 1927. This wonderful set is a true “Sistine Chapel of Impressionism” in the words of André Masson.

Monet planted the water lilies before he painted them. Monet organized his property at Giverny as though it were a huge painting. Thanks to a small army of gardeners, he diverted a river, planted water lilies, exotic flowers, weeping willows, bamboo trees, and willows. He seeded the pond and added enclosures with white chickens, ducks, and pheasants. Nature, recomposed by the artist, began to resemble his art. "My finest masterpiece," he later said, "is my garden."

Monet's Water Lilies series is a pivotal moment in art history, pushing the boundaries of Impressionism and influencing subsequent movements like Abstract Expressionism. The series' focus on the ephemeral, the interplay of nature, colour, water and light. They are stunning and beautiful. I return to the museum for inspiration whenever I am in Paris.

Across the city to the west, by the Bois de Boulogne, is the fabulous Fondation Louis Vuitton designed by Frank Gehry. This is currently housing a retrospective of David Hockney’s work. Both the building and the collection are stunning. The art on display includes his painted works and more recent iPad compositions. I loved his digital rain animation and admired another water painting genius. This is no surprise because he is celebrated for his Californian swimming pool series including “A Bigger Splash”. These paintings capture the dynamism of water, using curves, translucency, and abstract arrangements to convey its movement. Hockney drew inspiration from Monet and  Matisse, whose fluid lines and vibrant colours are echoed in his paintings

These wonderful celebrations of fine art were conceived and displayed almost a century apart. Beautiful water paintings not paintings in watercolour - that is where I dabble. Hockney has also inspired my Midjourney prompts.