In 1895, the Czech artist Václav Radimský (1867-1946) set about painting the waterlilies near to his house in Giverny. Like his close friend Claude Monet (1840-1926), who lived nearby, he did so from an old rowing boat, to which he fitted an easel.

From this floating studio he could reach the less accessible areas of the Seine and paint close to the surface of the water, capturing the reflections and movement from a perspective that would be impossible from the riverbank itself.

Through the mist of his cataracts, Monet recorded a similar impression of the water, almost abstract in its arrangement of shapes on a flat surface. Waterlilies in Giverny consumed the last 30 years of his life and the resulting body of work, 250 or so paintings, have imprinted themselves firmly on the collective memory.

Waterlilies - Václav Radimský - Sotheby's, London (22/03/1995) Lot 234

If Radimský’s waterlilies ever imprinted themselves on any memory, then it was likely confined to those of an intimate band of collectors and fellow painters. In 1995 when his painting of waterlilies surfaced at auction in London, it failed to reach its reserve of 2000 pounds. Meanwhile in New York, Monet's "Nymphéas", a large painting of 1908 sold for just under 3 million pounds.

Nymphéas (1908) - Claude Monet - Christie's, New York (07/11/1995) Lot 21

Artistic Reputation

The same waterlilies, the same bend of the river, but what accounts for the differing prices between 2 friends, painting in a similar style, at a similar time?

Radimský 's obscurity is perhaps attributable to a dreadful few years following his honeymoon in 1907. He lost his only daughter to scarlet fever in 1908 and with the outbreak of WWI was thrown into prison. Though later released by the personal intervention of Georges Clemenceau, a keen collector, his property was confiscated and he left France in 1918, penniless.

Monet’s earliest view of water lilies dates from 1897; Radimský’s from 1895 – suggesting that the idea for Monet’s iconic paintings originated with a Czech émigré painter, who was almost entirely forgotten 100 years after he first began painting the water lilies outside his house.

But crucially, not entirely forgotten. Though 1995 is just a few decades ago, in some regards it might as well be an entirely different age. The convenience of the internet in 2022, makes it difficult to fathom a time when it was slow and inconvenient. A similar thing is true of digital photography, which can now achieve, what even the most expensive camera could not, back in 1995.

It is also interesting to note that a largely bankrupt Czech Republic had existed for just a short period, following the Velvet Revolution in 1989, and the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992. Its GDP in 1995 stood at 60 billion. When the same painting appeared again in 2021, this time in Prague, the GDP had quadrupled to 243 billion (USD).

Brook with Waterlilies “Zátoka s lekníny” - Václav Radimský Adolf Loos Apartment & Gallery, Prague (18/04/2021) Lot 38

Naked economic realities must account for some of the reason that a painting which failed to sell for 2000 in 1995, sold for 28,000 just 26 years later. But perhaps more significant was the prolonged academic focus on Radimský in the years between 1995 and 2021; culminating in a retrospective in 2006 and a landmark exhibition and monograph in 2011.

Though Radimský’s rising status has not yet resulted in paintings of astronomic value, it does prove that artistic reputation is fluid, and often malleable.