Monet Lilies - Claude Monet's Water Lilies Paintings Series Explained
By Tom Gurney

Water Lilies were a Claude Monet series of 250 oil paintings which have become synonymous with the impressionist art movement for which he is most famous. Monet's flower garden at Giverny played host to this amazing set of works, and the garden itself was specifically designed for this purpose. The Japanese bridge that was constructed here also became famous from Monet's career.

Similarly to his Haystacks series, Monet experimented with series of paintings of his pond from the same angle, but at different times in order to study closely changes of light and season, and reflect these in his paintings. He also started with smaller versions of the lilies, concentrating on pretty details on individual clusters of flowers before becoming more ambitious.

Musee de Orangerie in Paris was the very fortunate recipient of 22 canvases in the Water Lilies series, painted specifically by Monet for a new area of the museum. These huge, life-size canvases brought Monet's imagination to life.

Several works from this series have also been involved in some of the most expensive art deals ever made, and will continue to do so whenever they come up for auction. Paris' Musée Marmottan, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Saint Louis Art Museum, Carnegie Museum of Art and Portland Art Museum all have some of this series on show, as well as Tate Modern on the southbank of London's River Thames.

Monet admitted towards the end of his career that he didn't feel he needed anymore subjects or models once his pond was completed and ready. He developed a great love for his garden and it remains on show to the public.

The garden played a huge role in the last 30 years or so of his life, where he conducted a large percentage of his works. Impressionism at the time was a new idea in art, and Monet constantly went against traditional art theory is representing his own emotions and vision of what he was painting. This brought a new way of painting, with brighter colours and a different use of light which proved supremely popular in Paris, the then capital of world art. Traditional movements such as Baroque & Renaissance now had critically acclaimed alternatives, and Monet's Impressionism, Sunrise and Water Lilies series played a large role in this.

Try Vault Oil Paintings for this specific Monet Lilies Painting, to buy as a high quality reproduction. Several other versions of the Water Lilies Monet series are also available.

Monet Water Lilies prints and articles can be found at this extensive art blog, which covers all famous Claude Monet paintings, plus plenty of other artists from a variety of art movements, such as Warhol, Van Gogh, Renoir, Leonardo Da Vinci and more.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_Gurney
http://EzineArticles.com/?Monet-Lilies---Claude-Monets-Water-Lilies-Paintings-Series-Explained&id=28289631