Monet Water Lilies

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The first piece of artwork that I came encountered with at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was Water Lilies by Claude Monet. This painting was finished in the year 1919 on a medium of oil on canvas. Monet painted this artwork at his home in Paris, France. This piece of artwork is fairly large; its dimensions are 39 3/4 x 78 3/4 inches. There are many colors used in this painting, bringing it to attention of many viewers. The greens, purples and pinks are not seen in many other painting surrounding this artwork. Monet got the idea of painting these water lilies after building an arch bridge in the front of his house in Paris that over looked the pond. The house and water gardens became his dominant place for where he completed most of his artwork. …show more content…

He headed more towards a pastel range with a play of warm and cool colors. At times he would paint in scales of greys but mostly warm and cool colors during this time. He also headed towards a set of harsh red and greens as seen in his garden pictures. By the mid-1870’s he had eliminated black from his works of art and reduced the role of earth tones. At the beginning of the 1880’s there was a notable change in Monet’s choice of subjects, palette and approach to space. He lead towards more refined color strokes and became more interested in warm and cool hues, which varied from pink to orange to blues and greens. Early in his career Monet did most of his work on canvases with a usual grey or light tan background. His method of building up on his paintings was consistent throughout his career. His first strokes consisted of broad and contour defining strokes and then applied more full strokes for the main parts of the artwork. As he painted he would start at the base and move up towards greater definition of line and texture to his palette. His colors would become more complex and the final product usually relayed his hard work and dedication. During the 1890’s he would start bringing multiple canvases to different sights. The light and weather would determine which artwork he was doing that day. As the light and weather changed, so would the canvas he worked on. This is why it would take him months to finish a particular piece of

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