Morning, 1920-26, oil on canvas, Musée de l Orangerie, Paris France. Left panel.

Claude Monet

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“I have painted these canvases as monks of former times illuminated their missals ; they don’t owe anything to anything else than the collaboration of loneliness and silence, to a fervent, exclusive attention that borders on hypnosis.”

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Morning - third panel

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” Imagine a circular room, the dado below the wall molding entirely filled with a plane of water scattered with these plants, transparent screens sometimes green, sometimes mauve. The calm, silent, still waters reflecting the scattered flowers, the colors evanescent, with delicious nuances of a dream-like delicacy.”

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Green Reflexions - left panel, 1920-26, Musée de l Orangerie, Paris France. Part of the Grand Decorations featuring Monet Water Lily pond in Giverny.

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I was once briefly tempted to use water lilies as a sole decorative theme in a room. Along the walls, enveloping them in the singleness of its motif, this was to have created the illusion of an endless whole, of water without horizon or shore. Here nerves taut from overwork could have relaxed, lulled by the restful sight of those still waters, and to whosoever lived there, the room would have offered a refuge for a peaceful meditation at the center of a flowering aquarium.”

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Green Reflexions - right panel

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” Dear and close friend,

I am on the eve of finishing two decorative panels which I wish to sign on the day of Victory, and am asking you to offer them to the State… It’s not much, but it’s the only way I have of taking art in the victory.”

Claude Monet to Georges Clemenceau, November 12th, 1918

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Claude Monet, 1865, photographer: Étienne Carjat

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Claude Monet, 1899 /  Nadar

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