In 1916, as the First World War raged just a few hundred kilometers away, Claude Monet was at work in his garden at Giverny, painting water lilies with a devotion that bordered on obsession. Weiße und gelbe Seerosen is one of the many canvases he produced in this period, yet each is unique—Monet himself once remarked, "These landscapes of water and reflection have become an obsession." The sheer number of water lily paintings, over 250, has led scholars to trace subtle changes in mood and technique across the years, making each work a chapter in a personal and artistic journey. This particular painting, with its white and yellow blooms, stands out for its luminous palette and the sense of quiet amid global upheaval. Here, Monet chooses not to depict a traditional scene or narrative, but instead plunges the viewer into the floating world of his pond.

The lilies drift across the surface, their pale petals catching the light, while the water reflects sky and foliage in shifting hues of blue, green, and gold. There is no horizon, no shore—only the interplay of color and form, inviting the eye to wander. Unlike John Singer Sargent’s more literal renderings of gardens, Monet dissolves boundaries, letting the subject blur into abstraction.

The white and yellow flowers become islands of calm, their placement and color orchestrated to guide the gaze gently across the canvas. The exact medium of Weiße und gelbe Seerosen is not always specified, but like most of Monet’s late works, it is likely oil on canvas. Many of these paintings remained in Monet’s studio until his death in 1926, only entering public and private collections in the decades that followed. The water lily series marked the culmination of Monet’s lifelong fascination with light and reflection, and these late works, painted as his eyesight failed, are now considered central to the development of modern painting.

Today, Weiße und gelbe Seerosen is celebrated as part of the enduring legacy of Impressionism, a testament to Monet’s relentless pursuit of beauty even in the shadow of war.