The Water Lilies at the Musée de l’Orangerie

The Orangerie inaugurated Monet’s famous Water Lilies, specially commissioned for the two new oval halls, in 1927. The museum in the Tuileries gardens gained fame as the paintings are considered to be the artist’s greatest masterpieces. Visitors are completely immerged in the vegetation which appears to cover the walls inside.

Based on Monet’s personal conception, considering the works as “large decorations”, the exhibition ponders how the impressionists were involved in the elaboration of a new decorative language and their relationships with the surroundings and daily life objects.
Although the impressionists were not commissioned by the Second Empire or the Third Republic to decorate town halls and other public buildings, they did however produce a large quantity of decorative panels and objects, with a preference for genre painting rather than the still highly fashionable historical painting. They promoted and added cachet to flower patterns, landscapes and gardens at the exhibitions they put on alongside the official Salon exhibitions from 1874 and 1886.​

Several panels illustrating the seasons are also on show, including Manet’s highly original ones decorated with pretty young women symbolising the seasons, standing out against natural backgrounds.Another flower, the chrysanthemum, started to appear and can be seen here and there among Monet’s Nymphaea (botanical name). In fact, Caillebotte, followed by Monet, developed sophisticated chromatic arrangements giving the flowers an airy gracefulness.

The flower’s success reveals how much Japanese Arts influenced impressionist sensitivity in patterns as much as objects, as the artists went on to work on ceramics and fans just like the Japanese. In 1879, at the 4th impressionist exhibition, around twenty fans, mainly by Degas and Pissarro, confirmed the avant-garde status of the object as it was designed, according to new research into the era.

Ange Leccia, a French pioneer in video art, has designed a sound and vision arrangement in-line with the ornamental works, illustrating the many possible ways of capturing the water lilies in Monet’s Giverny garden, according to light, time of day and seasons.

Talking of light, why not soak up the evening at 39V Paris, while enjoying a panoramic view of the surrounding rooftops and one of the most elegant avenues in the capital? Chef Frédéric Vardon, highly esteemed by his peers, offers diners some of the best cuisine in Paris in enchanting settings - a hanging garden, peaceful ambience and impeccable service - for an unforgettable experience. The starters are like mini tasters and the dishes on the menu découverte are delicate and surprising combinations!

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