Water Lilies 1918

Claude Monet painted this "Water Lilies" sometime between 1914 and 1917 using oil on canvas. These paintings, of which Monet produced many, reflected his immediate surroundings at his home in Giverny, France, and in their own way commented on the changing social structures of the time. Monet's later work, like this one, moved away from traditional landscape painting. It was more abstract. At the time, France was going through immense changes as an industrial power and was emerging into a new globalized world. Monet became somewhat of a national treasure towards the end of his life and a symbol of France, its culture, and its place in a rapidly modernizing world. If we want to understand this painting better, we can look at the archives. We can look through old letters, photographs, and news clippings to find out more. In this way, the meaning of Monet's “Water Lilies” is deeply rooted in its time.