Portfolio > Lou Posner: The Interface Between Life and Art

Posner painted Lily Pads from a photograph he took while he and his wife were vacationing along Florida’s Highway 30A. The pond was in the backyard of their friend, jeweler Rick Arriaga.

Using the distinctive hatching technique that appears in works such as Abandoned II, Posner transformed the photographed scene into a shimmering surface of deep blues, greens, and reflected light. He worked on the painting for a long time, building up the marks that give the water its sense of movement and luminosity.

Posner’s own description of the painting was characteristically brief: “… for Monet.” But privately, his ambition was less modest—he wanted to outdo Monet.