Water Lilies 1906

This is one of Claude Monet's paintings of water lilies, and when you look closely, you can imagine him, with his failing eyesight, squinting at the motif, trying to capture light as color. I wonder what it was like for Monet to keep painting the same scene over and over again. Did he find comfort in the repetition, or did it drive him crazy? What was he searching for? Maybe he wasn't searching for anything at all, but simply enjoying the act of painting. You can see the physicality of the paint, how he dabbed and stroked it onto the canvas. It's almost sculptural in its texture. Those blues and greens, they feel like the cool, damp air of a garden on a summer day. Monet built on the work of earlier landscape painters like Constable and Turner, experimenting with capturing fleeting moments of light and atmosphere. And in turn, his work influenced generations of artists who came after him. Painting is a conversation across time, an exchange of ideas. It doesn't give us fixed meanings but allows for ambiguity, leaving room for us to reflect.