WATER LILIES: JAPANESE BRIDGE

At the age of eighty-two, Monet discovered he had a cataract. The deterioration of his eyesight was horrifying to the artist, who wrote, "I realized with terror that I could see nothing with my right eye...a specialist...told me thta I had a cataract and that the other eye was also slightly affected. It's in vain that they tell me it's not serious, that after the operation I will see as before, I'm very disturbed and anxious."

In 1923 he was operated on three time to try and correct his right eye. The brilliant fiery reds and yellows of the work are indictive of the impaired sight of the artist, seeing his bridge within a reduced palette. Yet it is the most evocative sum of color and light and composition, creating an overall startling emotive effect.