National Library of Art Museum

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The moment one pauses within the light and form flowing through Claude Monet's Water Lilies series, time seems to sink into the pond of the painting. The light following the surface of the water lilies flows along the dark walls and scatters up toward the ceiling, and an air seems to drift as though carrying the breath of a garden. What breaks the stillness at the center of the hall are the blurred brushstrokes, the scattering of light, and faint shadows that even seem like an escape of light. The water lilies Monet painted are not a mere landscape but hold a depth that transcends what the eye can see. Visitors experience a sensation of sinking into the garden within the painting, and that flow never seems to stop.