Monet planted four “Babylon” weeping willows around the edge of his waterlily pond at Giverny: one near the Japanese bridge, two along the longer edge of the pond, at the north end, parallel to the road, and one to the east, on the edge facing the Japanese bridge. They appeared in many of the paintings he executed during World War I and through to the end of the decade. In the first versions, the edge of the pond appears in the corner and the trunk, a powerful vertical with supple fronds, is reflected in and stands out against the still water. Soon, evocations of trunk and shore fade, making it impossible to identify the tree or the spot where Monet was standing to paint them, as the artist conjures up a vision of a “floating world,” a flat area where it is difficult to distinguish the object from its reflection. That is the case here, where two sets of willow fronds near the sides of the canvas frame a “base” of water lilies above which are the reflections of clouds.