Image: public domain, courtesy of Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

The Japanese Footbridge

Claude Monet, 1899

Monet designed this water garden himself at his home in Giverny, France, including the pond and the arched bridge. In 1899 he painted twelve views of it, all from the same spot.

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Did you know?

Before it became a garden, this was a swampy plot across the railway line, which Monet bought in 1893.
Look at the shadows under the bridge: Monet painted them in deep purple, not black.
The bridge almost touches the top edge and runs off both sides, so we feel we are standing right in front of it.
Look for the signature in the lower right corner: Claude Monet 99.
Monet first rented his house at Giverny in 1883 and was able to buy it seven years later.
The dealer Durand-Ruel bought it from Monet in January 1900 and showed it in his Paris gallery that same year.

About the artist

Claude Monet (1840–1926) was born in Paris, grew up by the sea in Le Havre, and from 1883 lived and painted at Giverny in Normandy.

He was the guiding spirit of Impressionism, which took its name from his painting Impression, Sunrise, and he is beloved for his haystacks, cathedrals and water lilies.

As a teenager he earned pocket money drawing funny caricatures of local people, and later he lovingly tended a garden with a Japanese bridge that he painted again and again.

Claude Monet ›

Where it is today: Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington · Museum page