Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has recreated Claude Monet's famed water lilies paintings using 650,000 Lego bricks. The monumental art piece, titled "Water Lilies #1", measures nearly 50-foot-wide and is the largest Lego artwork Ai has ever made.
The spectacular sight will be seen in public for the very first time when the exhibition Ai Weiwei: Making Sense opens on Friday 7 April at London's Design Museum. Water Lilies #1 recreates Monet’s famous painting, Water Lilies (1914 — 26), a monumental tryptich which is currently in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
In the original painting, Monet depicts one of the lily ponds in the gardens of his home in Giverny near Paris. It is an image that has become world-famous for its depiction of nature’s tranquil beauty.
Ai Weiwei has been using Lego bricks in his work since 2014, when he used them to produce portraits of political prisoners. Ai Weiwei: Making Sense is showing at the Design Museum in London from April 7 to July 30.