Irises by the Pond (Primary Title)
Claude Monet, French, 1840 - 1926 (Artist)
Monet’s water garden at Giverny served as his most important source of inspiration during the final decades of his life and career. In 1893, he bought a plot of land that neighbored his property and had a pond dug on the site. Inspired by the Japanese prints he avidly collected, he shaped his garden according to harmonious marriages of color, filling it throughout with curves and asymmetries, and planting rare and imported weeping willows, bamboo, and water lilies to build an aesthetic oasis sheltered from the surrounding countryside. Once it had taken form, Monet began an intensive exploration of the garden’s perspectives and colors, representing their reflections on the surface of the pond in a series of paintings that expanded its scale onto mural-sized canvases intended to comprise an immersive interior decor. When the painter rediscovered these attempts in his basement sometime in 1914 following a period of relative inactivity, he began enthusiastically experimenting with the subject matter once again in this large-scale format. Irises by the Pond is one of several studies of water lilies that Monet transported from the bank of his pond into the new studio that he had built to accommodate these enormous canvases. In his attempts to perfect the composition of this motif, he made several similar canvases worked up in a thick layering of wet-over-dry paint during extended periods.
Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund
2019-2020: "Van Gogh Monet Degas, The Mellon Collection of French Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts", Palazzo Zabarella, Padua, Italy, October 26, 2019 - March 1, 2020
2019-2021: Van Gogh, Monet, Degas, and Their Times: The Mellon Collection of French Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN, February 2 - May 5, 2019; Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS, April 4, 2020 - January 10, 2021
2018-2019: "Van Gogh, Monet, Degas: The Mellon Collection of French Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts", The Frick Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, March 17 - July 15, 2018; Oklahoma Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, June 22 - September 22, 2019
2016: "Monet: A Step Beyond Impressionism", Ordrupgaard Museum for French Impressionisn, Copenhagen, Denmanrk, August 19 - December 4, 2016
Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse, Cleveland Museum of Art, October 11, 2015 - January 3, 2016; The Royal Academy of Arts, London, January 23 - April 10, 2016.
Loan to the Permanent Collection, The New Orleans Museum of Art, February 27 - September 18, 2015, as a reciprocal loan for Mme. Estelle Musson Degas, by Edgar Degas, to the Working Among Flowers exhibition.
Claude Monet und die Moderne (in Basle), Claude Monet…up to digital Impressionism Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich, November 22, 2001-March 10, 2002; Foundation Beyeler, Basel, April 1-August 18, 2002
Monet in the 20th Century, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, September 23, 1998-January 3, 1999; Royal Academy of Arts, London, January 18-April 18, 1999
Monet’s Years at Giverny, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, April 19-July 9 1978; St. Louis Art Museum, July-September 15 1978; cat No. 63, color illus.
Paintings by Monet,” Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Marc 15-May 11 1975; cat. No. 120
Claude Monet, 1840-1926, Museo Espanol de Arte Contemporaneo, Madrid Spain, April 29- June 30 1968; cat No. 117, p. 513 (Illus.), color illus. pp. 426-427.
Claude Monet– Late Work, Galerie Beyeler, Basle, Switzerland, September-October 1962; cat. No. 13, color illus..
2019-2021: Van Gogh, Monet, Degas, and Their Times: The Mellon Collection of French Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN, February 2 - May 5, 2019; Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS, April 4, 2020 - January 10, 2021
2018-2019: "Van Gogh, Monet, Degas: The Mellon Collection of French Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts", The Frick Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, March 17 - July 15, 2018; Oklahoma Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, June 22 - September 22, 2019
2016: "Monet: A Step Beyond Impressionism", Ordrupgaard Museum for French Impressionisn, Copenhagen, Denmanrk, August 19 - December 4, 2016
Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse, Cleveland Museum of Art, October 11, 2015 - January 3, 2016; The Royal Academy of Arts, London, January 23 - April 10, 2016.
Loan to the Permanent Collection, The New Orleans Museum of Art, February 27 - September 18, 2015, as a reciprocal loan for Mme. Estelle Musson Degas, by Edgar Degas, to the Working Among Flowers exhibition.
Claude Monet und die Moderne (in Basle), Claude Monet…up to digital Impressionism Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich, November 22, 2001-March 10, 2002; Foundation Beyeler, Basel, April 1-August 18, 2002
Monet in the 20th Century, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, September 23, 1998-January 3, 1999; Royal Academy of Arts, London, January 18-April 18, 1999
Monet’s Years at Giverny, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, April 19-July 9 1978; St. Louis Art Museum, July-September 15 1978; cat No. 63, color illus.
Paintings by Monet,” Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Marc 15-May 11 1975; cat. No. 120
Claude Monet, 1840-1926, Museo Espanol de Arte Contemporaneo, Madrid Spain, April 29- June 30 1968; cat No. 117, p. 513 (Illus.), color illus. pp. 426-427.
Claude Monet– Late Work, Galerie Beyeler, Basle, Switzerland, September-October 1962; cat. No. 13, color illus..
Curator’s Talk: The Reinstallation of the Mellon Collection
1:14:33The collection of European paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts given by Paul and Rachel Mellon constitute an essential facet of the museum’s identity. Dr. Sylvain Cordier, Paul Mellon Curator and Head of the Department of European Art, discusses the reinstallation of the Mellon Collection.
Some object records are not complete and do not reflect VMFA's full and current knowledge. VMFA makes routine updates as records are reviewed and enhanced.
