For the purposes of this assignment I choose Claude Monet’s “Water-Lily Pond with Bridge”. This work is on display at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art in Las Vegas, Nevada. This painting was done in 1905. Monet was a French impressionist painter. As the title implies this work depicts a small pond with a bridge crossing it. Monet actually constructed the pond and bridge in his backyard in order to paint it.
This entire work is done in an Impressionistic manner. This isn’t a picture like representation of a pond. This is Claude Monet’s impression of a pond. Meaning that Monet intentionally distorted the image to make the pond come alive to the viewer.
The painting itself is very interesting to view. This piece was painted with an oil based paint on canvass. In the foreground of the work we see the pond with scattered lily pads on it. The largest of these lily pads appears in the middle of the foreground. Monets attention to lighting and detail can be see here. The lily pad has white flowers on it that have a reflective quality. The piece is also interesting in that almost none of the water in the pond is painted blue. The water is painted in various shades of red, brown and white. The pond recedes into a row of greenery on either side of the bridge. The bridge is located in the middle of the background of this work. The bridge is painted with white and light shades of blue. The trees on either side of the bridge are made up of shades of green, yellow and blue. A small patch of sky can be seen above the bridge the trees.
On first viewing this work the bridge was difficult to find. The cool colors used to paint it, and the imposing line of trees flanking it, making it difficult to see. The water lily in the middle of the foreground is the first object the eye is attracted to. The next object to catch the viewers attention is the row of trees. On the left side we see vertical black lines indicating a tree trunk. Surrounding this lines are areas of color that give the impression of leaves. The trees on the right side are made up of vertical green areas extending from the top of the painting to the top of the pond. This area is very similar to a weeping willow tree. The images of the trees can be found reflected in the pond’s water.
In this work we can see interesting use of line. There are very few straight lines used. Instead we see the trees done in soft “s” curves. This makes the trees appear gentle and pleasing to the eye. In all the other areas of this work it is difficult to find evidence of line at all. The colors of these areas seem to blend together.

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