The Water Lilies - Setting Sun

Monet's veritable artistic testament, these "large decorations" are the culmination of an entire life. Designed from 1915 until his death (1926), they are inspired by the "water garden" at the artist's property in Giverny. As of 1886, Monet became more interested in representing his garden according to the rythm of light variations. The eight panels evoke the hours passing, from morning to the East to Sunset in the West.

Monet represents neither the horizon, nor the top or the bottom. The elements - water, air, sky, earth - become interwined in a composition without perpective, where the water lily folwers provide the rythm. The painter thus give "the illusion of an endless whole, of a horizonless and shoreless wave".