Monet created around two hundred and fifty oil paintings of the artist’s extensive flower gardens at his private home in Giverny: Which have become know as the Water Lilies series. The original of this oil painting Blue Water Lilies was created between 1916 and 1919 and today makes up part of the permanent Monet Collection on display at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

Many of the oil paintings in the Water Lily series were created while the artist was suffering from Cataracts: This can be noted in Monet’s tendency to ebb toward more reddish hues – A visual characteristic of cataract sufferers. However, Blue Water Lilies obviously does not: After an operation to remove the cataracts Monet reworked some of the paintings to intensify the blue hue of the lilies.

Blue Water Lilies concentrates on a select area of Monet’s lily pond in Giverney. While the artist has focused upon capturing a piece of nature close-up there are no details. This is a classic impression, a sensation that has been described by Monet in a way that is distinct to the artist. Without horizon the painting projects a feeling of infinity – A landscape with neither end nor beginning. Indeed a powerful and tantalizing composition from a pioneer of Impressionism.