Water Lilies (MoMA triptych)

Working in oil on canvas, Claude Monet painted this approximately 250 oil paintings of his water lily pond at Giverny. The MoMA triptych, completed around 1914-1926, immerses viewers in a panoramic vision of water, reflections, and floating blossoms.

No horizon line anchors the composition. Viewers float on the surface of the pond, surrounded by blues, greens, and purples. Monet's failing eyesight in his final years gave these late works an almost abstract quality. The paintings bridge Impressionism and Abstract Expressionism. Their influence on later artists like Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko cannot be overstated.