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.
Entries Categorized as 'Water-Garden'
The Snowy Garden
January 7, 2009
Giverny Calendar
December 18, 2008
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!
Misty Days
December 7, 2008
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.
Wisteria
November 30, 2008
It is followed by the white wisteria. So if you come in May you are pretty sure to see the canopy flowering. But according to the year the blooming period varies. if the Winter was mild and Spring early, the lavender wisteria starts earlier, at the end of April. On the contrary a late Winter can delay it up to three weeks.
But anyway, there is always something spectacularly beautiful to admire in Monet’s garden, from April through October.
Autumn Stars
October 25, 2008
They twinkle against the dark blue reflection of the sky.
In 19th Century France it was a common pattern to paint murals of stars in the night on the ceilings of churches.
Monet’s Japanese Bridge
October 24, 2008
It deserves lots of capitals because it has become the icon of the painter’s garden at Giverny.
In the bright sunshine its green turns almost blue, as can be observed on Monet’s paintings of this motive.
The picture was made in July when the wisteria tangled on the arbor flowers for a second time. This second blooming while the leaves are out is by far more discreet than the first one in May.
Copper Beech
October 15, 2008
It is a very old tree, dating back to Monet’s time. It must be over 100 years old, a survivor from the original garden Monet planted.
In October, Autumn has come and the beech is not copper anymore but brown, as you can see from its reflection in the waterlily pond. The rest of the season this senior among the trees in the garden has strange powers.
There is a magic in it: when you stand under its branches and you look up, its leaves are perfectly green. But seen from a distance they become dark red.
Certainly one could find a scientific explanation for this magic, but please! don’t tell me. I prefer not to know.
Historic Border
September 3, 2008
The name of this stream is le Ru, which means the stream in french. It is not very informative!
But the Ru is a branch of a bigger river, the Epte, which is meaningfull. The Epte was for several centuries the border between two kingdoms, England on one side (because the English king was duke of Normandy) and France on the other side.
Between 911 and 1204 there were many castles and strongholds built on each side of the river to defend the border, and battles fought.
There is still a tower remaining in nearby market town Vernon. It was the keep of the castle. And facing this castle 10 miles away, the castle of La Roche Guyon and its medieval dungeon can still be visited.
Nowadays the river is a border between two regions, Normandy on one side and the area of Paris Ile de France on the other one. Giverny lies on the norman bank, it is the first village of Normandy when coming from Paris.
Fish Stories
August 30, 2008
Many fish live in Monet’s lake at Giverny. They help keeping its balance.
There are many rudd, easy to recognize because of their orange fins, and carp.
The carp are not Koi carp, they are wild ones. They come from the Seine river.
A few years ago there was a flood. It was like paradise for carp, they went wandering in an almost endless lake.
Unfortunately for the carp, the water receded, and they were trapped in puddles. They would have died, but the gardeners of Giverny saved them with big garbage cans.
They released them in the pond. Since this day they have been doing well. Now they are big carp and likely to become very old.
And there are also pike in the pond. Several ones, but one is especially big and especially nasty.
Two years ago, a couple of moor hens had made their nest on the island in the middle of the pond. When they had their chicks, seven sweet little chicks, they brought them on the pond to teach them how to swim. Then this greedy pike ate them all one by one.
Watering
August 8, 2008
In the summertime most flowers need a lot of water to remain beautiful.
In Monet’s gardens at Giverny the sprinklers are on duty early in the morning and in the evening, to save water and to avoid that visitors get wet, of course.
Modern Flower
July 16, 2008
They were hardy flowers, able to stand cold and frost, whereas pink or yellow water lilies were of exotic origin and needed a warm greenhouse to spend the winter.
When Monet created his water garden at Giverny and imagined a pond with floating islands of colorful nympheas, these flowers where very modern.
By the end of the nineteen century a man called Bory Latour-Marliac had the idea of cross fertilizing hardy white water lilies with exotic ones. He was successful and obtained a full palette of hardy waterlilies. In 1889, the year of the Eiffel tower, Latour-Marliac exhibited his new creations at the Universal Exhibition in Paris, where Monet saw them. Four years before he had his pond dug he conceived the idea of it by seeing the beautiful water flowers.
Would Latour-Marliac not have created his flowers, Monet would probably not have painted his Nympheas masterpieces.
Poetic Job
June 29, 2008
It is especially beautiful in late June when the roses are in blossom, adding their pink to the greens of the foliages.
At Monet’s time there was a boat anchored at the dock. It was used mainly by the gardener devoted to the water garden.
This gardener had a special job: every morning he had to wash the water lilies. The road nearby made them dusty, Monet who wanted to paint them, wanted them to be clean.
The gardener used to get up very early in the morning, before the master would come, and tour the pond in the boat to push the flowers under the surface with the row to clean them.
Water lily washer, isn’t it a poetic job?
Japanese Influence
June 11, 2008
He liked all the bamboos, wisterias, water lilies or peonies he could see on them and wanted these exotic plants in his garden.
He also loved the curved bridges which are so common on Japanese prints.
But although Monet knew pretty well the lay out of a Japanese garden thanks to his readings and to his neighbour American painter Lilla Cabbott Perry who had lived in Tokyo, he took poetic license.
He didn’t intend to create a true Japanese garden. His bridges are much less bent than authentic ones, and they are green. In a true Japanese garden, they should be red.
Sky Lilies
June 10, 2008
Monet was fascinated by the reflection of the sky and the clouds.
When the water is absolutely still the surface of his lake is a perfect mirror.
The Nympheas seem to hang in the blue sky.
Weeping Willow
June 5, 2008
Monet was keen on painting through the weeping willow. It was difficult, and he liked the challenge.
There was the vertical axis of the branches and the horizontal axis of the floating water lilies.
In addition, the reflection of the sky looks like a hole in the water.
And Monet could even see the stems of the flowers under the surface.
When he painted here, he had to mix all the different plans to put them on the two dimensional canvas.