Affandi was a man of nature as much as he painted the realities of human life. Though he rarely painted flowers, he was not above observing scenes of natural beauty.

A pond of lotus bloom is a beholding sight. Affandi was thus moved by the scene to paint it for the father of the present owner, who had commissioned Affandi to paint lotuses as a gift for his wife, whose name in Chinese bore the word lotus (莲).

Affandi’s composition - particularly with the arc of the fence in the upper right - is reminiscent of Claude Monet’s Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies, with its distinctive bridge. Here, we have two outstanding works, from two distinct environments and time period.