Claude Monet
Water Lilies
1906

Description:

He used different textures and small dots to create smooth-looking water and rough-looking plant life. He also used lines and different values of green in the water to make your eyes move from one part of the painting to another. He used mostly cool colors with pink and red variations as well as yellow for contrast. Finally, he used different shapes (such as circles and organic shapes) to form water lilies and lily pads.

Analysis:

He used circles and organic shapes of green to form lily pads against a blue and green water background that moves your eyes throughout the piece. The red/pink variations, as well as the yellow variations that compose the lilies in the piece, also cause movement, because they make you look from lily to lily.

Interpretation:

I believe that this is an oil painting of water lilies that was created as a calming, soothing painting of lilies.

Judgement:

I believe that this piece was a success because it is a calming, soothing painting of water lilies. It looks like water that is barely moving and is peacefully harboring the lilies.

Other:

This type of project could be used in the classroom as an "icebreaker" to introduce children to criticizing their own and each other's artwork and may also be used as a part of English, because a teacher could use it to grade students' spelling and grammar.