Claude Monet, Water Lilies: Morning, 1914-1926

Kids don’t know anything. They should be seen and not heard. Their opinions matter little in the grand scheme of things. Welcome to My Kid Could Paint That, a place where our opinions get to be seen and heard. A unique space carved out for our thoughts on paintings, buildings, and sculptures and if you don’t like it - well, we frankly don’t give a damn.

As over-exposed and publicized as he is, I cannot help but love Claude Monet. Specifically his water lilies, and in this case his painting Water Lilies: Morning. When I look at the canvas, I imagine being encircled in a room full of nothing but water lilies and the serene purple and blue hues Monet is famous for. Little did I know such a place existed in Musee de l'Orangerie. A museum in Paris dedicated to impressionists and post-impressionists that's located on the West corner of the Tuileries Gardens. Two salons are dedicated specifically to Monet’s Water Lilies and they have collected twenty-two canvases that collectively measure about six and a half feet high and 20 feet long. Monet had always imagined a grand room where his paintings could be seen collectively, and after World War One he donated two paintings to the French State. Musee de l'Orangerie was not a museum at the time, though, it was a green house where citrus plants grew in the winter, hence the name. The collection grew into what it is today, a sanctuary to Monet’s powerfully moving chromatic world.

So while Monet’s Water Lilies may not be a “deep-cut” or an obscure piece that no one knows about, they are one of the things I am thankful for. I am also thankful for a place where I can express my ideas on paintings that have been discussed by world-class historians. I am thankful that I get one day completely devoted to the work I have put into this blog post. I am thankful that you are still reading this in spite of my rather rude introduction. Most of all, I am thankful for the opportunity to know what art is and what is has the possibility to do.