Water Lilies – Blue Lily Pads 1992

Roy Lichtenstein made this, Water Lilies – Blue Lily Pads, as a kind of conversation with Monet. It's like one painter talks to another across time. The whole scene is made up of dots, which is so typically Lichtenstein. Imagine him in his studio, carefully laying down each dot, one by one, building up the image bit by bit. Each precisely placed dot makes up the overall image, just like brushstrokes. I wonder if he felt like he was channeling Monet, or if he felt like he was making fun of the old master? There's this tension between the mechanical reproduction and the hand-made mark that is so interesting. And even though it looks so different from Monet, it still manages to capture that feeling of light shimmering on the water, those lazy summer days.