York: Monet’s Water Lily Pond painting goes on display

Visitors to a North Yorkshire city are being given the chance to view one of Claude Monet’s most famous oil paintings.

York Art Gallery, in Exhibition Square, will display The Water Lily Pond by the French impressionist from Friday until 8 September.

The gallery is one of 12 venues across the UK chosen to display pieces from the National Gallery’s collection.

Senior curator Dr Beatrice Bertram said Monet had “enduring appeal”.

Speaking to Radio York, she said The Water Lily Pond, which was painted in 1899, was a “really recognisable, well-loved painting”.

Dr Bertram added: “The closer you get, the more abstract it gets.

“From a distance, you can see the bridge is kind of hovering – there are no real edges to it.

“Then you’ve got these horizontal plains of water lilies and reflections and they just keep going but then we come closer and see the thick texture and colours in the waterlilies which you don’t see when you stand back.

“Then we’ve got this incredible Japanese-style bridge in it, as he was determined to make a water garden that was inspired by Japan.”

Monet, who was born in Paris in 1840, was said to be inspired by the Japanese artist practice of producing several views in the art work, according to the National Gallery.

He also painted the natural beauty of his garden later in his life.

Dr Bertram said that his work was still important and has an impact on modern art as “he was one of the founders of impressionism, which we now take for granted as a movement”.

She added: “I think Monet has an enduring appeal as his work still has something to say, even now.”