Monet’s ‘Water Lilies’ among Impressionist paintings on view at Fubon Art Museum in Taipei

台北富邦藝術博物館展出莫內《睡蓮》等印象派畫作

Spanning Paris to the Grand Canyon, 52 Impressionist works from the Worcester Art Museum invite personal interpretation without wall labels


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Fubon Art Museum in Taipei will open a new exhibition on Wednesday featuring Impressionist works from the Worcester Art Museum, including Claude Monet’s renowned “Water Lilies,” offering viewers in Taiwan a chance to experience iconic works from a foundational movement in Western art history.

Titled “Frontiers of Impressionism – Paintings from the Worcester Art Museum,” the exhibition includes 52 works by 38 artists from France, the US, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden. The paintings span a variety of subjects, from Monet’s garden to the expansive landscapes of the American West, illustrating how Impressionism evolved across different regions.

Impressionism, which emerged in France in the mid-to-late 19th century, is characterized by visible brushstrokes, unblended colors and a focus on capturing natural light. Artists such as Monet, Camille Pissarro and Edgar Degas rejected academic traditions in favor of portraying fleeting moments and personal impressions of the world around them.

The Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts has built a significant collection over its 125-year history, documenting the movement’s French origins and its spread throughout Europe and North America. It was among the first US institutions to acquire one of Monet’s “Water Lilies” paintings.

The exhibition features prominent figures from both the Barbizon school and the French Impressionist movement, including Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Pissarro and Paul Cézanne. It also includes works by American artists such as Mary Cassatt, William Merritt Chase, and Childe Hassam, who adopted Impressionist techniques to reflect American themes and landscapes.

A notable aspect of the exhibition is the absence of traditional wall labels. Instead, visitors are encouraged to engage with the artwork visually and interpret the pieces on their own, offering a more personal and reflective viewing experience.

Fubon Art Museum Director Ueng Mei-hui (翁美慧) noted that the Taipei presentation marks the final stop of the exhibition’s Asian tour. The paintings will be on view from June 11 through Sept. 29.

Consisting of about 250 oil paintings, Monet’s “Water Lilies” series was created between the late 1890s and the artist’s death in 1926. Focused on his water garden in Giverny, the works capture subtle changes in light, reflection and color over time.

Monet once remarked, “One instant, one aspect of nature contains it all.” This sentiment is echoed throughout the series’ focus on a single, enduring subject, reflecting the Impressionist pursuit of capturing the fleeting beauty of the natural world.