Where can I see this painting?

It's at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Claude Monet painted it in 1899. It's one of about 18 versions of the Japanese bridge he painted over several years.

In Monet's own garden at Giverny, about 75 kilometers northwest of Paris. He bought the property in 1890 and spent years designing the water garden, diverting a stream to create the lily pond and having the arched Japanese-style bridge built. The garden still exists and is open to visitors.

Why did Monet paint water lilies so often?

The water garden became his primary subject for the last 30 years of his life. He was fascinated by light, reflection, and atmosphere on the water's surface. The lily pond gave him an endlessly changing subject: different seasons, times of day, and weather conditions transformed the same scene completely.

What style is this painting?

It's Impressionist, focused on capturing a specific moment of light and color. The green arched bridge, willow reflections, and floating lily pads dissolve into dappled brushstrokes. Monet built the image through layers of color rather than drawing outlines.

How big is this painting?

It measures 92.7 cm × 73.7 cm (36.5 × 29 inches). This is from the earlier, more structured series of bridge paintings. Monet's later water lily canvases became increasingly abstract and much larger, eventually filling entire museum rooms.

Where to See Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies in New York

Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies

by Claude Monet, 1899

StyleImpressionism

MediumOil Canvas

Palette

Year: 1899
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 92.7 cm × 73.7 cm

Where to See It

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

New York, USA

Permanently housed

Museum Website Buy Tickets

The Artist

Claude Monet

1840–1926

French

View all works →

Cite or Embed This Work

APA · MLA · Chicago

1-click academic citation and embeddable “On View” museum badge for articles, syllabi, and research.

Claude Monet painted the Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies in 1899 at his home in Giverny, France. Six years earlier he'd purchased a marshy plot across the railroad tracks from his house and transformed it into a water garden. The Japanese-style footbridge became one of his favorite subjects.

That summer Monet painted eighteen views of the bridge from a single vantage point. This vertical composition gives extra prominence to the water lilies and their reflections. The pale turquoise bridge arcs across the upper third of the canvas, its shadows rendered in soft purple. Tall grasses and willows frame the edges.

The painting measures 92.7 by 73.7 centimeters and hangs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It came to the Met through the H.O. Havemeyer Collection in 1929. Monet would return to his water garden obsessively for the rest of his life, eventually producing around 250 water lily paintings.

More by Claude Monet

View all →

Waterloo Bridge

Claude Monet

State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

Grainstack in Winter, Misty Weather

Claude Monet

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston

Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies