The artist ignores Monet

I am here to see the de-deconstruction

of Monet’s water lilies, what

the curator calls Agapanthus,

the African lily grown 45 miles west

of Paris, but instead I watch

a bearded young artist, seated

in front of the magnificent if ignored

collected canvas, as his attention

is focused left to the exit door

and the young museum attendant

who is self-consciously and

embarrassedly aware that he is

being drawn in charcoal, shades

of black and white on gray paper.

I want to see the Monet but instead

I watch the intent artist drawing

the self-conscious attendant and

I glance deliberately to see

the likeness is rather remarkable,

right there in front of Monet’s

inspiring if ignored water lilies.

I would take a photograph

but cameras are not allowed.

On Tuesday, I posted “Navigating Monet’s Water Lilies,” about the three paintings that comprise The Agapanthus triptych currently on display at the St. Louis Art Museum. As I entered the large room containing the triptych, there was actually an artist seated in front of the Monet but focused on the drawing described here. Fortunately, I spent some time looking at Monet’s water lilies before I circled back to see what the artist was drawing.

Painting: Self-Portrait of the Artist with Beret by Claude Monet.

Navigating Monet's Water Lilies

Sundered for commercial reasons

(three sell better than one)

Rejoined for artistic reasons

(three attract more than one)

To see the originals together

as one, intended, and to see

the originals at an angle,

standing left and looking right,

close to the canvas but not close

enough to alarm the attendants,

is to navigate the unexplored

and uncharted, a terrain

of watery greens and faded blues,

filtered whites and smudged reds,

continents of agapanthus separated

by oceans, seas of color floating

reflecting up

reflecting down

reflecting up and down

reflecting left to right

reflecting right to left

Colors swirl and move toward

a pinpoint on the horizon,

allowing the voyage never to end.

The three paintings popularly known as Monet’s “Water Lilies” are currently on an exhibition tour at the three museums who own them.  Last fall, the exhibit was at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City. Currently, it’s at the St. Louis Art Museum, and it will arrive at the Cleveland Museum of Art in February. The official title of the work is “The Agapanthus Triptych” for the African water lilies it depicts.

This poem is submitted for Open Link Night at dVersePoets. To see more poems, please visit dVerse Poets. The links will be link at 2 pm Central time today.

Painting: Monet’s Water Lilies, Cleveland Museum of Art.