Monet had a small rose garden in this very protected area. A big  wall shelters them from northern wind. Roses don’t get much sunshine either, but apparently  they don’t mind. Many plants don’t dislike shadowed exposure as much as they dislike big changes in temperature.

The roses planted in this pocket rose garden are at their peak at the turn of May and June. The picture was taken on June 4. If you visit Giverny at another season, you might want to look for this little corner not for the roses, but for the rhododendrons, the dramatic Philadelphus, or just for the shadowed bench offering views on Monet’s first studio.

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This place especially, where the long branches of three big weeping willows reach the surface of the pond, offering views on to the blooming water lilies, looks familiar.

Claude Monet loved this spot that he painted over and over again, and that is even featured on the huge Grandes Decorations at l’Orangerie.

 The vertical lines mixed with the floating water lilies and the reflections on the surface of the pond challenged his command of perspective.

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A small coating of snow hides the surface like a new canvas.

Long blue shadows stretch on the shining whiteness.

 Not a single flower.

 Even the brave pansies are covered with a blanket of snow.

No colors, except for the green bridges.

Birds are hiding, but their prints are everywhere, like strange words written in the snow.

And the running water of the river reminds that life is awaiting under the appearant death of nature.

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Let the old year become a dry leaf blown away by the wind, and new sprouts grow, like green buds full of life and energy!

It is time for garden dreams, when flowers still sleep in the cold ground.

And time for dreams of travelling as soon as the sun is higher and warmer again.

Will you come to Giverny this year?

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Fall is a talented artist who paints beautiful works on Monet’s water lily pond at Giverny.

Late October is the best time to admire the warm reflection of foliage on the surface so often painted by the master of Impressionism.

Liquidambars, weeping willows, poplars, taxodium, beech, chestnut trees all offer their brightest tones duplicated by the mirror of the lake.

Then the breeze comes like a magic stick to blur it all and turn the perfect images into nature’s brushstrokes.

And the little green bridge is there to frame it all.

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The beginning of Autumn is a gorgeous season in Giverny.

Walking in the paths of Monet’s garden provides a unique experience of being merged in the flowers. Giant dahlias, cosmos, sunflowers have reached an incredible height.

All mixed together in enormous bunches of colors, they dance in the slightest breeze.

Overwhelming beauty.

The few visitors exclaim, astonished: It was worth coming! So many flowers! I wouldn’t have believed!

The air smells of sages, lavenders, and the acid fragrance of dying poplar leaves.

The waterlilies floating on the pond seem to be dreaming all day long. They hardly open for a few hours in the afternoon before closing again and returning to their sleep.

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It sounds like the perfect transition for the new Museum of Impressionisms Giverny: after the first exhibition dedicated to Monet’s Nymphéas, that ended with resolutely modern late works, the next artist occupying the galleries of the museum is Joan Mitchell.

Although Mitchell rarely admitted Monet’s influence on her canvases, undoubtedly she put her feet in his footsteps. She lived in the same riverscape, the Seine Valley at Vétheuil. In this village where Monet had spent a couple of very hard years, painting relentlessly, she bought the house neighboring his, almost a century later, and just like Monet she admired the beautiful natural setting.

But instead of trying to recreate nature on the canvas, Mitchell, an abstract expressionist, preferred to concentrate on her own feelings. She shared with Monet an amazing energy, a fantastic talent as a colorist, a special love for oversized canvases, and more.

The exhibition is on display only a few miles away from Vetheuil until  31 October, 2009 at the Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny.

Joan Mitchell, Great Valley number IX, oil on canvas

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Over 100 000 visitors will have seen the beautiful exhibition of 28 paintings by Monet at the Musee des Impressionnismes Giverny.

The exhibition started on May 1st ends on Saturday 15 August.

It will have met all the expectations by attracting crowds of Monet lovers in the village where the canvases, mostly featuring Nympheas, had been created.

The next exhibition opening on 23 August is dedicated to the oversized and colorful paintings of American artist Joan Mitchell.  Joan Mitchell, a master of expressionism, was inspired by Monet’s Nympheas. She lived for years in Vetheuil, her studio neighboring Monet’s house on the river side.

For the museum, it will be sort of a flash-back to its origins. Before becoming the Musee des Impressionnismes Giverny, it used to be the Musee d’Art Americain Giverny.

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A purple bush rose frames the big window of Monet’s first studio at Giverny.

Purple roses are not very common, nor look very natural, but they provide a strong impact. This one has a sweet name: lavender dream. It is lovely in springtime when it flowers in numerous small simple roses.

It is too late now for roses, but it is the right time to see -and smell- lavender in bloom at Giverny, as a slight reminiscence to Provence. It perfumes the air, together with phlox and lilies.

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The dock offers good views on the small bridge over Monet’s pond at Giverny.

There are six bridges in Monet’s water garden, the biggest being the one Monet painted so often. But the smaller bridge at the other end of the pond is very charming also.

This side of the garden is bathed by the sun in late afternoon. The warm light generates beautiful reflections on the surface.

One would like to do like Monet, just sit down and gaze at the water for hours, scrutinising the changing colors of nature.

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This is how Monet’s garden looked on April 1st, the very first morning it was open this year.

The morning sun enhances the pure lines of the Japanese bridge, whereas the air is full of scent from spring flowers like daffodils, pansies and hyacinths.

The light of this early  hour has pink and blue notes and  a very special vaporous quality.

Everything looks renewed and fresh, ready for a new start.

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An unusual view of Giverny: Monet’s water garden is covered by snow.

Not much but enough to transfigure the usually colourfull garden.  The pond is frozen, except for the place around the island and the borders.

In the background the roses arches at the dock are still there as a landmark to the dormant garden.

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Winter is a good time to sort out pictures. I spent a rainy day browsing through last years photographs of Monet’s garden and came to the idea of making a Giverny Calendar out of my favorite shots.

Here is the result, a wall calendar to accompany every Monet fans and garden lovers all year round.

I hope you will like it. I did my best to choose for each month the corresponding flowers in bloom at this time of year, but of course this was not really possible for winter months.

The Giverny Calendar is for sale on line for 27.99 US dollars. You can see all the pictures by clicking on the months.

I would be glad to have your feedback, in order to improve next time.

Joyeux Noël! Merry Christmas!

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The colors tend to disappear under the soft veil of the fog.

Mist likes to stick in the Seine valley, especially on chilly autumn and winter’s days. This magician creates strange effects, unreal silvery lights that linger over Claude Monet’s pond at Giverny.

The usually precise lines of the reflections on the surface become less defined.

Like a parenthesis of hapiness on a dull day, the pink nympheas prove that colors are not swollen by the grey shades as they are by the night, but only softened. A careful look reveals them. The surrounding greys make them even more vivid.

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Now that all the wild roses are spent, their lovely berries shine in the morning mist.

The dog roses grow everywhere in the area of Giverny, on road sides, on the bushy hills, turning the countryside into a giant garden when they are in bloom in springtime.

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