2026 - THE CULLMAN TIMES

The Evelyn Burrow Museum opens Nympheus Luminansis, Water Lilies of Light Exhibition

Published 4:02 pm Tuesday, May 26, 2026

By Staff reports

The Evelyn Burrow Museum at Wallace State Community College announces a new exhibition that pays tribute to the work of impressionist Claude Monet.

Nympheus Luminansis, Water Lilies of Light by French artist Laurence Saunois is a result of eight years of work and pays tribute to Claude Monet and the poetic world of his garden in Giverny, while offering a contemporary and personal interpretation. Produced by David J. Wagner, LLC, the exhibition is on a two-year museum tour in the United States, with The Evelyn Burrow Museum as one of its six host institutions.

"We are delighted to host this exhibition at The Evelyn Burrow Museum," said museum administrator Kristen Holmes. "This exhibition offers our community a rare opportunity to experience the spirit of Monet through a contemporary lens. Laurence Saunois' work captures the beauty, light and quiet reflection of nature in a way that invites visitors to slow down, look closely and find their own meaning within each piece."

Holmes expressed her appreciation to the Alabama State Council on the Arts, which awarded the museum a $4,000 grant to fund the exhibition, and to exhibition organizer David Wagner.

The exhibition brings together 10 large-format canvases in which light and color become the true protagonists. In her approach, Saunois develops a pictorial language that she defines as a form of "real impressionism": an alliance between figurative rigor and impressionist sensitivity. Each canvas thus becomes a contemplative immersion. The founding painting, La danse de la lumière (The Dance of Light), took more than 1,000 hours of work over four years to complete.

Inspired by a visit to Monet's gardens, the artist confides, "My intention was to capture the vibration of light on the colors of nature and offer the viewer an immersive experience, as if they were opening a window onto the Giverny pond for each painting."

Through reflections and transparencies, some works also reveal a secret dimension. Thanks to the phenomenon of pareidolia, everyone can guess familiar shapes or imaginary figures, transforming the painting into a true emotional mirror.

An internationally renowned artist, Saunois is known for her figurative and realistic works inspired by nature. Her paintings, exhibited and awarded prizes in France and the United States, question our relationship with light, time and artistic memory.

Nympheus Luminansis, Water Lilies of Light will be on display through Aug. 15. The Evelyn Burrow Museum is open Tuesday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. For information, visit www.burrowmuseum.org, email burrowmuseum@wallacestate.edu or call 256.352.8457.