October 30, 2009
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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July 10, 2009
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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October 15, 2008
A big copper beech shades Claude Monet’s water garden at Giverny.
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.
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September 11, 2008
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.
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May 14, 2008
The wisteria is at its peak over the Japanese Bridge in Claude Monet’s garden.
Its flowers look like long grapes. They are a soft tone of lavender and produce a delicious scent which recalls to the scent of jasmine.
It is an incredible feeling to stand on the bridge and be surrounded by the blooming wisteria all around you.
The beautiful effect doesn’t last very long, but Monet had thought of a special jocker. A second later wisteria will follow the lavender one when it is over. The second one is a white wisteria.
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April 27, 2008
Spring has come suddenly. It was warm and sunny today, and the sunshine enhanced the bright colors of Monet’s flower garden.
In the water garden the azaleas are in full bloom. On the trees the little leaves look tender and fresh.
April light has a special quality, a sort of sparkling effect that can be noticed on Monet’s footbridge seen into backlight.
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