Water Lilies (Agapanthus)

c. 1915–26

Oil on canvas, 201.3 × 425.6 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art

Violets, blues and greens fill nearly every inch of this pond. Only the pale lily pads and a few blossoms step outside the cool family.

With no banks or horizon in view, the water's colors run to every edge.
Violet passages near the top and green ones below both contain blue, so the eye reads them as one surface.
Small orange-red blossoms at the lower right are the strongest accents in the picture.
At over four meters wide, the canvas surrounds anyone standing close with this one color family.

Concepts