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Weeping Willow

Claude Monet · 1918

A 1918 Monet painting of a weeping willow tree from his water garden at Giverny, made during the First World War.

Monet painted this willow at Giverny late in life, during the war and amid his declining eyesight.

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Impressionist painting of a weeping willow tree with drooping green and yellow foliage, a dark trunk with pink highlights on the left, and a pinkish-purple pond area at the bottom. Signature and date in the lower left corner.
Claude Monet, Weeping Willow, 1918. Columbus Museum of Art.

About this source

What it is

An oil painting made in 1918 by Claude Monet, depicting a weeping willow growing beside his water garden pond at Giverny. It is now held by the Columbus Museum of Art.

Why it matters

This painting is part of a series Monet made of this same willow tree. Made during the First World War, these willow paintings are often read as expressions of mourning for the war, while their loose, free brushwork is also connected to Monet's failing eyesight in his later years. Together they show how an artist's personal circumstances and historical events can shape even a quiet garden scene.

Look closer

  • How does the loose, blurred brushwork affect the mood of the painting?
  • Why might people connect a painting of a willow tree to the sadness of wartime?
  • What might Monet's changing eyesight have to do with how this picture looks?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Claude Monet on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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