The Allure of Painting Water Lilies

A Collection of Historic and Contemporary Work

Water Lilies 1895 Isaac Levitan

Monet rules on-line searches for “water lily paintings”. It’s difficult to scroll past all the citations for articles about his nymphaea masterpieces. Not only did Monet present a new way of seeing and painting, he also featured in his monumental water lily paintings recently hybridized and therefore little-known varieties of the exotic flowers. But artists beyond Monet have also been mesmerized by the water lily. Floating on a reflective water surface, the subject lures artists with the challenges of capturing light bouncing off water, leaves breaking the surface, translucent depths giving glimpses of stems and roots - a cornucopia of intertwining imagery.

We were interested in looking at the different interpretations of the water lily other artists had created. We put together this collection of paintings by historic artists and those by some of our favorite contemporary artists—all inspired by the water lily.