Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies by Monet in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, November 2008

Title: Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies

Artist: Claude Monet (French, Paris 1840–1926 Giverny)

Date: 1899

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 36 1/2 x 29 in. (92.7 x 73.7 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929

Accession Number: 29.100.113


In 1893, Monet, a passionate horticulturist, purchased land with a pond near his property in Giverny, intending to build something "for the pleasure of the eye and also for motifs to paint." The result was his water-lily garden. In 1899, he began a series of eighteen views of the wooden footbridge over the pond, completing twelve paintings, including the present one, that summer. The vertical format of the picture, unusual in this series, gives prominence to the water lilies and their reflections on the pond.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437127