Monet: The Water-Lily Pond (One Painting, One Story)

In 1893 Claude Monet, a keen gardener, bought a plot of land next to his house in Giverny, where he wanted to create a water garden ‘both for the pleasure of the eye and for the purpose of having subjects to paint’. He filled the pond with water lilies and built a bridge at one end, inspired by examples he had seen in Japanese prints. This water garden became the focus of Monet’s later career and the subject of some 250 paintings.
Alongside an overview of the painter’s life, Ross King considers the profound impact of Japanese art on Monet’s working practice, the historical events of the time, the artist’s fascination with painting bridges, and the personal tragedy that led to his ultimate desire to capture and immortalise on canvas a succession of ever-changing moments in his garden.

Published by National Gallery Global/Distributed by Yale University Press

About the author

Ross King is the author of numerous books on French and Italian art and history, including Mad Enchantment:Claude Monet and the Painting of The Water Lilies.

Product details

• Authors: Ross King
• Publisher: Wiley
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 11.09.2025
• EAN: 9781857097337
• ISBN: 978-1-85709-733-7
• No. of pages: 64
• Dimensions: 159 mm x 210 mm x 8 mm
• Weight: 188 g
• Illustrations: 30 color Illust
• Series: One Painting, One Story
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Art history; ART / Subjects & Themes / Plants & Animals, ART / Individual Artists / Monographs, Painting & paintings, Individual artists, art monographs, Impressionism, Paintings and painting, Art & design styles: Impressionism & Post-Impressionism, ART / Movements / Modernism