Water Lilies 1919

Monet made this dreamy painting of water lilies with oil on canvas, and I can just imagine him in his garden at Giverny. The way he built up the surface, layer after layer, feels like he was coaxing something into being. There's this one stroke, a thick daub of green, that suggests a lily pad floating serenely on the water. It's amazing how a single gesture can evoke so much. I wonder, was he trying to capture a fleeting moment, the way light dances on the surface, or was it more about conjuring a feeling, a mood? You can see him working through something. This reminds me how artists like Joan Mitchell, who was so inspired by Monet, are in conversation across time, each building on what came before, pushing painting into new territories of feeling and expression.