Beginning in 1903, Monet embarked on a series of paintings depicting his water garden at Giverny, its lily pads and endless play of reflections. Inspired by Japanese prints, he hoped to evoke “presence through shadow and the whole through the part”—suggesting the surrounding banks, trees, and sky, though never representing them directly. In 1909 Monet exhibited forty-eight of these “water landscapes” at his dealer’s gallery in Paris, among them this canvas.

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