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Monet’s Water Lilies at the MoMA

Sep 11, 2009
Art, Events

The current exhibit of Claude Monet’s Water Lilies at the Museum of Modern Art fills  one small gallery with the lucious color, light and the timelessness of Monet’s masterpieces.  It will run from September 13 through April 12, 2010. There are two triptics of the waterlilies and four smaller paintings. This is the entire group of the museum’s collection of his late paintings, exhibited togther for the first time, plus two which are on loan.

Take your time to look at these so that they can unfold to you, and look at them from different angles to appreciate the light play across the paint surface. This gallery feels like a chapel to Monet and to  the art of painting.  No matter how many times I see these paintings they are always fresh and new.

Try to take your time and really see them even if the exhibit gets crowded and check out the MoMA website for tips on visiting the museum.

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  1. Avivah  •  Sep 23, 2009 @2:37 pm

    I am so, so glad the MoMA has seen fit to hang these works together. The Water Lilies room was one of my favourites at the old MoMA. You could sit and dive into a painted pool, or walk towards it watching the dappling of the light on the water and want to warn anyone standing too close that they were about to slip of the bank.

    Now turning to the rest of the paintings floor. The last time I was there (2006) I found the arrangement quite disturbing, yes disturbing. The works were hung by category/subject: flowers, bathers, still life, &c. There would be an Impressionist next to an Abstract Expressionist next to a Lyrical Abstractionist with a couple of Fauvists. Imagine this as a walk through someone’s mind. This would be a person who knew they wanted to look at a flower but could not decide on which one to focus: that’s a lovely rose, just like these asters here, oo irises and carnations, but the flowering herbs. Just a jumble of species and scents and seasons. Very confusing. My companion and I ran, almost screaming.

    Still my favourite museum.