19th century Alice Alley Azaleas Bamboo climbing roses door entrance Exhibition Flower flowers Garden Giverny Giverny Garden home house Impressionism Japanese Japanese bridge Mill Monet Monet's garden Monet's House Museum Museum of Impressionisms Giverny Nymphea painting pink Pond Poppy rhododendrum rose Snow spring Tulip Vernon Water-Garden Water Lily water lily pond weeping willow Winter Wisteria Woodblock yellow flower yew trees
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck and Luke Morton requires Flash Player 9 or better.
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.
I had to wait until there were a few people at the entrance to Monet’s house in Giverny before I could take this picture. Generally I take great care there isn’t anybody on the snapshot. It was fun doing exactly the contrary, for a change.
I wanted to please Virginia, who paints lovely pictures of Giverny. While she was in Monet’s gardens, Virginia photographied his house, but once back at home she realised she missed the scale for characters.
Actually, the picture looks more lively with people on it. Why must we always wait and take empty pictures? To give the illusion we were alone on the site? Or just to avoid photographying people we have not been introduced to?
Monet’s house is not that easy to paint, because of the perspective. To see it you must stand on its side, for two yews hide the house when you face it. It was Monet’s idea to mask the building, as it is extremely long: about 40 meters, 130 feet! Strangely enough the house is very narrow, only 5 meters.
I wanted to show you the red squirrels we have got in France. They are very different from the striped ones that are so common in other parts of the planet.
Red squirrels are generally shy, so you can’t promise to your child you will see one during your next walk in the wood.
But at Fall the squirrels come closer to the houses, looking for hazels. Once the leaves are fallen they can’t hide a lot, what makes them easier to photography.
It is absolutely lovely to observe a squirrel hopping on the ground and suddenly speeding up a tree. They are delightfully light and agile, which makes human beings feel clumpsy and heavy in comparison. Our bodies are so much bigger than theirs!
Claude Monet made his garden famous by painting it over and over again. There are 272 canvases by Monet featuring his water garden, not to speak about the Grandes Decorations, these oversized panels that can be seen at l’Orangerie Museum in Paris.
Monet didn’t want any other motive for almost twenty years. He was in his seventies and eighties and didn’t feel like travelling for long painting campaigns anymore.
In addition there was war, the first World War from 1914 through 1918. Monet preferred to stay in his garden to paint. Here he found all the inspiration he needed.
Monet painted his pond or his bridge repeatedly, because for him there were never the same. What he wanted to render was not especially a flower or a bridge, but the light on them, the air that wraps them. And the light changes all the time.
Giverny lies in the Seine Valley. In geological times the river dug its valley in the tender limestone.
Now there are cliffs or steep hills on both sides of the river. When the hill faces north, it is covered by woods. When it is well oriented it used to be cultivated when Monet lived in Giverny, 100 years ago.
There were vineyards on the hills. Normandy is not a good place where to grow grapes, but our ancestors tried and made a wine which ranged between ‘almost not drinkable’ generally to ‘not too bad’ the best years.
It is not possible to judge, for it is not possible to taste it anymore. Even the eldest inhabitants of Giverny won’t tell, the vineyards disappeared before World War One. I don’t think anybody really regrets them.
Welcome to Giverny.
This is my first post. I work as a guide in Claude Monet’s gardens and home at Giverny, Normandy, France.
It is a unique place created by the painter himself, an avid gardener.
Monet landscaped his garden, using all what he knew about colors and composition to compose the flower beds or design the alleys.
He considered it his most beautiful artwork because it was a living one, changing with the seasons.
Then he painted it, over and over again. He wanted to render the changing light, the impression of the moment.
I would like to try and render my everyday impressions too and share with you the beauty of this garden, and generally my passion for Monet and his works.