Our last two days in France were spent in the tiny village of Giverny, 80 km from Paris.
At Giverny, Monet untiringly transformed an abandoned domain into a floral masterpiece, to become the inspiration for many of his greatest works of art.
He was not only a painter of his own garden but an artist whose painting trips took him away for lengthy periods of time. But he was never really far from his garden. Through constant correspondence, he kept a close eye on his family and on his flowers. Frequent visits from his friends and admirers made Giverny the centre of his existence.
Until his death in 1926, the painter, the father, the gardener and the man would never really leave Giverny.
Monet has always been fascinated by the play of light and reflections of clouds on water. His numerous paintings done on his floating studio in Argenteuil or on the Dutch canals, show his fascination with inverted reflections in these liquid mirrors.
Claude Monet lived for forty-three years in Giverny. His magnificent property fell into disrepair after the death of his daughter-in-law in 1947 but was resurrected with the establishment of a foundation supported by American patrons from 1980 onwards.
With a passion for gardening as well as for colours,
he conceived both his flower garden, Clos Normand and his water garden, Jardin d'Eau as true works of art.
Walking through his house and gardens, visitors can still feel the atmosphere
which reigned at the home of the Master of Impressionnism and marvel at the
floral compositions and the nymphéas (water lilies) his greatest sources of inspiration.
At Giverny, Monet untiringly transformed an abandoned domain into a floral masterpiece, to become the inspiration for many of his greatest works of art.
He was not only a painter of his own garden but an artist whose painting trips took him away for lengthy periods of time. But he was never really far from his garden. Through constant correspondence, he kept a close eye on his family and on his flowers. Frequent visits from his friends and admirers made Giverny the centre of his existence.
Until his death in 1926, the painter, the father, the gardener and the man would never really leave Giverny.
Monet has always been fascinated by the play of light and reflections of clouds on water. His numerous paintings done on his floating studio in Argenteuil or on the Dutch canals, show his fascination with inverted reflections in these liquid mirrors.
Monet's house with geraniums at the front.
On entering his house, the visitor should imagine a home filled with the noisy cavalcade of eight children, the artist's comings and goings between his studio and the garden, the atmosphere of the kitchen in the early morning when vegetables came fresh from the kitchen garden, plus the returns from market and the arrival of friends from Paris ....
A world of senses, of colors and of memories,
the house in which the artist and his family lived notably contains his
studio-sitting room and his exceptional collection of Japanese prints.
We knew that the Clos Normand flower garden in autumn would never be as splendid as it was when we saw it in the late Spring of 2000. The only flowers were dahlias, and most of those had been weakened by a fortnight of rain. However, we had been blessed with a mild, sunny day and the light was sensational.
A few good specimens had survived the rain.
My Mum grew this dahlia every year, when I was a child, and I made myself very popular with my teachers by keeping them well supplied with bouquets.
Another of Mum's favourites.
In 1893, ten years after settling at Giverny, Monet acquired a piece of land situated at the end of
the Clos Normand, on the other side of the road, and he diverted a narrow
arm of the river Epte to create a pond that became the Jardin d’Eau - the water garden - now one of the world's most famous museums.
In line with the central path from the Clos Normand, Monet had built a Japanese bridge, inspired by his Japanese prints. He had it painted green, to distinguish it from the red traditionally used in Japan. The shutters and handrails of his house also match the green of the Japanese bridge.
The oriental atmosphere is recreated with the choice of plants such as bamboo, ginkgo biloba, maple trees, Japanese peonies, azaleas, white lilies and the weeping willows which so marvellously frame the pond. In front of me is a smoke bush.
Finally, Monet planted nymphéas - water lilies - in the pond itself. "I love water, but I also love flowers. That’s why, once the pond was filled with water, I thought of embellishing it with flowers. I just took a catalogue and chose at random," he said.
Monet was so proud of his water garden that he liked to
receive his guests there and spent hours contemplating it. A full time
gardener, in charge of its maintenance, removed each dead leaf to ensure the
perfect beauty of the pond during painting sessions - which were almost daily.
They were several serious photographers about.
This American woman finished her lunch and then pulled out her sketch pad and watercolours.
Paul photographing me on the Japanese bridge while I photographed him.
Gardeners at work in Clos Normand. In Spring these beds are packed with tulips and irises.
Crocuses in the grass.
In 1897, at the age of 57, Monet began to paint the Nymphéas, a series of huge canvases.
In seeking to
capture the atmosphere of this surface of sky, on which touches of colour
float, Monet is to achieve one of his greatest masterpieces and push his
painting to the limits of Abstract Art, in which the vibration of colour is
sufficient to evoke a world of feelings and emotions.
The Nymphéas now reside in the Orangerie in Paris.
Farewell Giverny.
Farewell France.
