↗France, late 19th century-early 20th century · c. 1915–26
Water Lilies (Agapanthus)
Claude Monet
Colour palette
#CDB999#D1BFA1#CBB08B#C3AE8E#B19B7B#E0D3BA
Approximate colour proportions
Estimated from six colour groups in the museum image, including visible paper or borders. Reproduction and lighting affect the result; these are image-area proportions, not pigment measurements.
Gift of Jane Iglauer Fallon in memory of Harold Fallon · The Cleveland Museum of Art
Image licence: CC0 · Museum record & image source ↗
America · 1918–19
Studies of a Soldier Drinking, for Gassed (recto); Studies of a Male Nude (verso)
- Date
- 1918–19
- Medium
- charcoal (stumped in places) (left figures) and graphite (right figure); squared in graphite (right figure)
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 48.1 x 62.6 cm (18 15/16 x 24 5/8 in.); Overall: 48.1 x 62.5 cm (18 15/16 x 24 5/8 in.)
- Country / context
- United States
- Movement / tradition
- European and American art
- Collection
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Attribution / role
- Museum attribution
- Pathway
- European and American art ↗
FROM THE MUSEUM
In 1919, Sargent exhibited a large painting at the Royal Academy of Art in London called Gassed. The Dressing Station at Le Bac and on the Doullers-Arras Road. The British War Memorial Committee had commissioned the work from him as a way of honoring the sacrifices of World War I. The subject was based on a scene the artist actually witnessed during his visit to battlefields in France in 1918. This drawing is a study for one of the soldiers in the painting, which now hangs in the Imperial War Museum in London.
Collection text · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0Place in the artist’s career
Compare the 1898 society portrait with the sunlit watercolour patio and the 1918–19 soldier studies. Oil permits rich, continuous modelling; watercolour makes reserved light and flowing washes conspicuous; graphite and charcoal concentrate on pose. These examples show changing purposes alongside changing materials, rather than portraiture simply giving way to landscape.
The artist’s practice
Artist-wide context; individual works may differ.
Media and surface
Oil portraits, travel watercolours and figure drawings serve distinct commissions and working purposes.
Marks and structure
Economical, assured marks can suggest fabric or bodily weight without detailing every edge.
Palette and light
Contrasts of bright light and shadow organise surfaces; watercolour often preserves the paper’s luminosity.
A MOMENT TO LOOK
Start with what you can see: shapes, surface, colour and scale. How might the listed materials affect the way this object was made and experienced?
Looking prompt · an invitation to observe, not a historical interpretation.
