In 1893, Monet, a passionate horticulturist, purchased land with a pond near his property in Giverny, intending to build something "for the pleasure of the eye and also for motifs to paint." The result was his water-lily garden. In 1899, he began a series of eighteen views of the wooden footbridge over the pond, completing twelve paintings, including the present one, that summer. The vertical format of the picture, unusual in this series, gives prominence to the water lilies and their reflections on the pond.

Inscription: Signed and dated (lower right): Claude Monet / 99

[Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1900–1901; bought from the artist on January 25, 1900; stock no. 5632; sold on January 9, 1901 to Durand-Ruel, New York]; [Durand-Ruel, New York, 1901; stock no. 2458; sold on January 26, 1901 to Havemeyer]; Mr. and Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, New York (1901–his d. 1907; on deposit with Durand-Ruel, January 26–July 10, 1901); Mrs. H. O. (Louisine W.) Havemeyer, New York (1907–d. 1929; on deposit with Durand-Ruel, November 30, 1908–August 20, 1909; cat., 1931, pp. 156–57, ill., as "Landscape—Bridge and Pond Lilies")

Paris. Durand-Ruel. "Oeuvres récentes de Claude Monet," November 22–December 15, 1900, no. 12 [see Ref. Wildenstein 1985].

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The H. O. Havemeyer Collection," March 10–November 2, 1930, no. 88 (as "Bridge over Pool of Pond Lilies") [2nd ed., 1958, no. 169].

Lexington. University Art Gallery, University of Kentucky. "The Nineteenth-Century Landscape," October 16–November 16, 1955, no catalogue.

Haus der Kunst München. "World Cultures and Modern Art," June 16–September 30, 1972, no. 682.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Impressionism: A Centenary Exhibition," December 12, 1974–February 10, 1975, not in catalogue.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Monet's Years at Giverny: Beyond Impressionism," April 19–July 9, 1978, no. 31.

Saint Louis Art Museum. "Monet's Years at Giverny: Beyond Impressionism," August 1–October 8, 1978, no. 31.

Kunstmuseum Basel. "Claude Monet: Nymphéas," July 20–October 19, 1986, no. 9 (as "Le bassin des nymphéas").

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Monet in the 90s: The Series Paintings," February 7–April 29,1990, no. 90 (as "The Water Lily Pond [Japanese Bridge]").

Art Institute of Chicago. "Monet in the 90s: The Series Paintings," May 19–August 24, 1990, no. 90 (as "The Water Lily Pond [Japanese Bridge]").

London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Monet in the 90s: The Series Paintings," September 7–December 9, 1990, no. 90 (as "The Water Lily Pond [Japanese Bridge]").

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection," March 27–June 20, 1993, no. A414.

Paris. Musée National de l'Orangerie. "Monet: Le cycle des Nymphéas," May 6–August 2, 1999, no. 5.

Kunsthaus Zürich. "Monet's Garden," October 29, 2004–March 13, 2005, no. 38 (as "Water-Lily Pond").

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920," February 4–May 6, 2007, no. 92.

Berlin. Neue Nationalgalerie. "Französische Meisterwerke des 19.Jahrhunderts aus dem Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," June 1–October 7, 2007, unnumbered cat.

Von der Heydt–Museum Wuppertal. "Claude Monet," October 11, 2009–February 28, 2010, unnumbered cat. (p. 223).

Julien Leclercq. "'Le Bassin aux nymphéas' de Claude Monet." Chronique des arts et de la curiosité, supplément à la Gazette des beaux-arts no. 37 (December 1, 1900), pp. 363–64.

Rudolf Adelbert Meyer. "Manet und Monet." Die Kunst Unserer Zeit 19 (1908), ill. p. 75.

Gustave Geffroy. Claude Monet: Sa vie, son temps, son œuvre. Paris, 1922, ill. opp. p. 264.

Georges Clemenceau. Claude Monet. Freiburg, [1929?], ill. opp. p. 144.

Frank Jewett Mather Jr. "The Havemeyer Pictures." The Arts 16 (March 1930), pp. 479, 481.

H. O. Havemeyer Collection: Catalogue of Paintings, Prints, Sculpture and Objects of Art. n.p., 1931, pp. 156–57, ill.

Stephen Gwynn. Claude Monet and His Garden: The Story of an Artist's Paradise. New York, 1934, p. 168.

Wilhelm Uhde. The Impressionists. Vienna, 1937, pl. 68.

Georges Grappe. Monet. Paris, 1941, ill. on title page.

Oscar Reuterswärd. Monet. Stockholm, 1948, p. 288.

Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. "XIX–XX Centuries." French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 3, New York, 1967, pp. 141–42, ill.

Douglas Cooper. "The Monets in the Metropolitan Museum." Metropolitan Museum Journal 3 (1970), pp. 297–300, 302, 304–5, fig. 28.

René Huyghe Lydie Huyghe in La Relève du réel: la peinture française au XIXe siècle: impressionnisme, symbolisme. Paris, 1974, fig. 117.

Robert Maillard in Denis Rouart and Jean-Dominique Rey. Monet, Water-Lilies: Or the Mirror of Time. New York, 1974, unpaginated, ill. [French ed., 1972].

Robert Gordon, and Andrew Forge. Monet. New York, 1983, pp. 268, 294, ill.

Charles S. Moffett. Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1985, pp. 148–49, 253, ill. (color).

Shunsuke Kijima. Monet. Tokyo, 1985, unpaginated, fig. 50 (color).

Daniel Wildenstein. "1899–1926: Peintures." Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné. 4, Lausanne, 1985, pp. 5, 9, 22 n. 181, pp. 156–57, no. 1518, ill., remarks that the clump of irises visible at the left of all the other pictures in this series has here totally disappeared.

Christian Geelhaar in Claude Monet: Nymphéas. Exh. cat., Kunstmuseum Basel. Basel, 1986, pp. 27, 32, 172, no. 9, ill. (color).

Frances Weitzenhoffer. The Havemeyers: Impressionism Comes to America. New York, 1986, pp. 143, 257, pl. 113.

Gary Tinterow et al. "Modern Europe." The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 8, New York, 1987, p. 37, colorpl. 21.

Karin Sagner-Düchting. Claude Monet, 1840–1926: Ein Fest für die Augen. Cologne, 1990, pp. 188–89, ill. (color).

Paul Hayes Tucker. Monet in the '90s: The Series Paintings. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston, 1990, pp. 260, 300, no. 90, colorpl. 94.

Gary Tinterow. "Miracle au Met." Connaissance des arts no. 472 (June 1991), p. 36.

Susan Alyson Stein in Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, pp. 227, 248, 252, colorpl. 219.

Gary Tinterow in Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, pp. 33, 36.

Gretchen Wold in Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, pp. 366–67, no. A414, ill.

Daniel Wildenstein. "Catalogue raisonné–Werkverzeichnis: Nos. 969–1595." Monet. 3, 2nd ed. Cologne, 1996, pp. 647–49, no. 1518, ill. (color, overall and detail).

Daniel Wildenstein. Monet or the Triumph of Impressionism. 1, 2nd ed. Cologne, 1996, p. 338, ill. p. 337 (color), mentions its vertical format, which is atypical of the series.

Impressionist and Modern Art, Part I. Sotheby's, London. June 30, 1998, p. 19, mentions it in the catalogue entry about another painting from the same group of 1899 pictures of Monet's water garden.

Pierre Georgel. Monet: Le cycle des "Nymphéas," catalogue sommaire. Exh. cat., Musée National de l'Orangerie. Paris, 1999, p. 30, no. 5, ill. (color).

Horst Keller. Monets Jahre in Giverny, Ein Garten wird Malerei. Cologne, 2001, p. 121, ill. p. 123 (color).

Christoph Becker et al. Monet's Garden. Exh. cat., Kunsthaus Zürich. Ostfildern-Ruit, Germany, 2004, pp. 61, 66–67, 197, no. 38, ill. (color) [German ed., "Monets Garten," Ostfildern-Ruit, 2004].

Clare A. P. Willsdon. In the Gardens of Impressionism. New York, 2004, p. 218, colorpl. 225.

Joseph Baillio and Cora Michael in Claude Monet (1840–1926): A Tribute to Daniel Wildenstein and Katia Granoff. Exh. cat., Wildenstein & Co., Inc. New York, 2007, p. 170.

Kathryn Calley Galitz in Masterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, pp. 146, 285, no. 135, ill. (color and black and white).

Kathryn Calley Galitz in The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 2007, pp. 128–29, 241–42, no. 92, ill. (color and black and white).

Eric M. Zafran in Claude Monet (1840–1926): A Tribute to Daniel Wildenstein and Katia Granoff. Exh. cat., Wildenstein & Co., Inc. New York, 2007, p. 84.

The series of water-garden landscapes by Monet can be divided into three main groups. The first, to which the MMA example belongs, dates from 1899 and 1900 and was shown at the Durand-Ruel gallery in 1900. The second, painted between 1903 and 1908, was exhibited in 1909. The third group, formed by the decorations of the two oval rooms in the Orangerie in Paris, was painted in the years during and after the First World War.

The Museum's picture is similar to one in the Tate Gallery, London, and to another in the Louvre, both painted in 1899.