Monet, who liked painting lotuses, worked for four years from a studio in an abandoned boat by the river at Argenteuil, where he spent long hours observing the play of sunlight on water and exploring the changing relations among light, shade and color.
喜歡畫荷花的莫內，曾有四年期間，就以阿爾讓特港裡的一艘廢船作為畫室，長時間對水光倒影進行觀察，尋找光影和色彩之間的關係變化，長期致力在戶外日光下寫生的莫內，晚年還因此得了白內障，眼睛失明。