Water Lilies 1919

Claude Monet made this painting, Water Lilies, with oil paint. Look at the way he works with colour, building up an image through these tiny little touches. It's like he’s inviting us to understand artmaking as a process, a kind of dance between the eye, the hand, and the world. I love the way Monet layers the paint, creating a surface that feels almost alive. You can practically feel the texture of the canvas. In the top right, notice those subtle shifts from blues to greens to purples. It's so delicate, like he's trying to capture a fleeting moment. It’s like he’s using the paint to think, to feel, to explore the possibilities of perception. Monet was a huge influence on so many artists, but for me, I think of how Gerhard Richter also investigated the possibilities of abstraction through a focus on the material qualities of paint. Art isn't about having all the answers; it’s about embracing the questions.