Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings Stamped (lower right): Claude Monet
Gallery Label Irises, among Monet's favorite flowers, lined the pathways leading up to the house and Japanese bridge on the artist's property at Giverny. This bird's-eye view of a garden path belongs to a series of monumental works painted during the First World War that capture the vital essence of these vivacious flowers with an intensity and breadth of vision that bear witness to Monet's genius and determination. Late in life, as his eyesight faltered, he dispensed with subtly and "took in the motif in large masses," waiting "until the idea took shape, until the arrangement and composition inscribed themselves on the brain."
Provenance the artist's son, Michel Monet, Sorel-Moussel (until the late 1950s; sold to Granoff); [Katia Granoff, Paris, late 1950s–1972; sold to Wildenstein]; [Wildenstein, Paris, 1972–74, sold on May 17 to Annenberg]; Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, Rancho Mirage, Calif. (1974–2001; jointly with MMA, 2001–his d. 2002; his bequest to MMA)
Exhibition History Paris. Galerie Katia Granoff. "Claude Monet: Les Nymphéas," June 1965, no catalogue.
New York. Wildenstein & Co., Inc.. "Masterpieces in Bloom," April 5–May 5, 1973, not in catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Monet's Years at Giverny: Beyond Impressionism," April 19–July 9, 1978, no. 64 (as "The Path through the Irises," about 1918–1925).
Saint Louis Art Museum. "Monet's Years at Giverny: Beyond Impressionism," August 1–October 8, 1978, no. 64.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," May 21–September 17, 1989, unnumbered cat. (as "The Path through the Irises").
Washington. National Gallery of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," May 6–August 5, 1990, unnumbered cat.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," August 16–November 11, 1990, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection," June 4–October 13, 1991, unnumbered cat.
References Katia Granoff. Claude Monet: quinze nymphéas inédits . Paris, 1958, colorpl. XI.in Denis Rouart and Jean-Dominique Rey. Monet, Water-Lilies: Or the Mirror of Time . New York, 1974, unpaginated, ill. [French ed., 1972].Monet . Paris, 1981, p. 55, ill. and p. 46 (color detail).Monet . New York, 1983, p. 294, ill. p. 278 (color).Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné . 4, Lausanne, 1985, pp. 266–67, no. 1828, ill.in Masterpieces of Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: The Annenberg Collection . Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, 1991, pp. ix, 58–59, 167–68, ill. (color and bw) [1st edition, pp. xi, 56–57, 161–62, ill. (color and bw).Beaux arts no. 92 (July–August 1991), p. 69, ill. p. 72 (color, installation photograph).Monet, Narcissus, and Self-Reflection: The Modernist Myth of the Self . Chicago, 1994, p. 285.Monet: Catalogue raisonné–Werkverzeichnis . 4, 2nd ed. Cologne, 1996, pp. 866–67, no. 1828, ill. (color).Art News 97 (May 1998), p. 149.in "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 2000–2001." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 59 (Fall 2001), p. 57, ill. (color).in Masterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art . New York, 2007, pp. 147, 285–86, no. 136, ill. (color and bw).in Claude Monet (1840–1926): A Tribute to Daniel Wildenstein and Katia Granoff . Exh. cat., Wildenstein & Co., Inc. New York, 2007, p. 130.
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