'The Japanese Footbridge' (1899) belongs to the first series Claude Monet devoted to the arched wooden bridge he had built over the new water-lily pond in his garden at Giverny. The green bridge, the weeping willows, and the reflections of lilies and sky are woven into a dense screen of greens and purples in which the surface of the water almost loses its depth. Monet would return to the same motif again and again over the next two decades; as his cataracts worsened after 1914 the palette became fiercely warm, verging on abstraction — making this early version a cornerstone of his garden series.

Exhibition Venue

Musée Marmottan Monet

Paris, France