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Visual analysis
“The Water Lily Pond” also known as “The Japanese Footbridge” and “Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies” is a beautiful piece of art having no abstract nature. It is oil-on-canvas form of art. It was made by Oscar-Claude Monet in 1899. He is known as one of the founders of impressionist painting.
In the year 1893, Monet purchased land with pond in Giverny, France. He wanted to have something that looks beautiful and could also be converted into painting. He made “The Water Lily Pond” while looking at that land. In 1899, he developed eighteen views of the wooden footbridge over the pond and made twelve paintings in the summer of that year. This painting was among those paintings. Arched, wooden footbridge in this painting is showing Monet’s admiration for Japanese paintings and prints. This painting has been signed by Claude Monet with the year “99” in the lower right corner.
VISUAL ELEMENTS
This painting is one of those paintings, which have a vertical format. Its dimensions are 36.5 x 29 in. (92.7 x 73.7 cm). This painting has been made with the help of oil paints, but Monet has used too little paint giving the appearance of watercolors. “The Water Lily Pond” is an example of impressionistic style of painting as it is showing following characteristics;
- This painting is showing informal and natural scenes.
- It has an emphasis on the reflection of objects that is characteristic of light. Objects and their reflection have particular colors.
- There are not outlines on objects.
- Paint is applied in short and rapid brushstrokes and dabs.
- Colors in the painting are not very dark.
- Reflections and shadows are made by the combination of different complementary colors as, for example, the reflection of the bridge in the pond in this painting
In this painting, the artist has given special importance to the bridge and the water lilies. Artist has also presented the reflection of these water lilies in the pond, which has covered most of the canvas. White and yellow colored lilies with horizontal strokes and wide textures in the pond are grabbing viewer’s attention and guiding their eye through and around the work of this art. Reflection of other plants including the willows, reeds and foliage around the pond in the surrounding is also visible between the leaves and flowers of water lilies. Sky is not directly visible but is indicated only through its reflection in the water. This painting is at the level with the bridge and looks like the person is standing on the pond to make a painting. However, situation of the pond, floating water lilies, arching bridge, and surrounding vegetation could be mistakenly considered as a primordial jungle with an arching wooden bridge having no signs of cultivation.
Line. In the painting, bridge looks like an arch (curved construction) bisecting the canvas into two parts. Left side of the canvas just behind the bridge shows that green plants or bushes have straight vertical lines except the area just below the bridge. On the other hand, plants or bushes on the right side of the canvas are more uneven and have no regular lines. Overall, this painting shows vertical dabs of greenery. Reflections of the vegetation in the water have vertical strokes in the green, yellow, and white colors. However, many lilies are presented with wide texture, horizontal marks and small dabs showing the physicality of the scenery in the painting. This painting is impressionistic in nature that is why it has no outlines around any object.
Color. “The Water Lily Pond” is full of colors. It has cool blue and green colors with pink, white and yellow colored water lilies. Except the yellow, it is not showing any warm colors. Due to the depiction of the garden, this painting has dominating green color. Bridge is blue in color and is suspended like a canopy slightly above the middle of the painting. There is also a reflection of the bridge in the bottom of the painting. This reflection is brownish red and blue in color. Water lilies are present mostly in white and yellow colors. A V-shaped slightly dark-colored area in the upper middle of the canvas is probably showing plants and bushes. Tones are softly merged into one another as shown on the supposed banks of the pond. In the painting, the area above the bridge has a lot of green, pale-yellow, and grey-blue features, whereas in the area below the bridge pale blue, green, and pink colors are present. Water is also showing the mixed colors of the plants and bushes.
Light. It is a luminous painting with softly bright or radiant nature. The presence of such lightning and colors caused the viewer to have the physical experience of being in the garden. Shape. This painting has bushes or foliage which is irregular and free-form on the right side and regular in straight lines on the left side. It has an arching footbridge that is most closely related to Japanese culture. Leaves of water lilies are more circular (showing that these are from the genus Victoria in the plant family Nymphaeaceae). Mass. The surface of the pond appears thick enough to walk over the water. Texture. Texture of the painting is such that lines of canvas are visible on closer look of the painting. These lines can be felt by touching the canvas.Pattern. Most of the area of the painting is filled with water and billowing foliage that is responsible for taking the viewer to the brightly colored waterscape. In this painting, water lilies are floating in the water almost everywhere in a complex pattern across the surface. The painting is not showing any piece of land even on the side of the water showing that bushes of that area fully covered the land. Time. White colored flowers in the painting are symbolizing the first night of their opening while the pink color of flowers in the painting is showing the second night. Motion. Large green leaves of water lilies lie flat on the water’s surface that looks like static without any movement. This silence of water is also showing some form of impressionistic style in painting. Space. Monet compresses the space in this painting with the help of green harmony. The bridge is anchored in the composition, but it is truncated in the painting showing no signs of linking to the banks. Bridge is looking like it is levitating in the air above the pond. Monet has left no space for the sky by closing off the background and all the points of the scene. Monet has also left no space for banks in the painting.
PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN
This painting is a closed composition unlike the Poplar Series and the Haystack Series by Monet, which represent open landscape. Its composition has no specific arrangement or organization. Unity/Variety. Continuous use of green color is making the artwork unified. Colors above and below the bridge are slightly out of harmony as the artist has used more dark colors in the upper part of the painting and light colors in the lower part of the painting that is showing the variety. Balance. This artwork is showing the type of symmetrical balance because if we divide the picture vertically, we can find that both sides of the picture plane are nearly exactly the same.Emphasis/Subordination. In this painting, Monet has put emphasis on water lilies and the arching bridge. Scale/Proportion. Almost all parts of the painting are in good proportion or scale. However, flowers in the pond are slightly out of proportion. Water lilies in the bottom of the painting are representing flowers close to us whereas flowers in the middle of the painting are representing flowers that are far from us. Usually, flowers or any other thing gets smaller with distance, but in the painting all of the flowers are changing with a slight difference. Rhythm. Vertical and horizontal strokes are visible almost everywhere in the painting. These strokes are also present in different components of the painting. If we consider colors, green color is creating a rhythm and is visible almost everywhere in the painting. Bridge in the painting is also creating a rhythm that leads the viewers’ eyes through the scenery.
