February 22, 2010
The Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco surprises French visitors by the words written on the pediment of the main entrance : Honneur et Patrie. Surprises continue with its beautiful collection of European art including five gorgeous Monets.
The biggest one faces visitors at the end of a perspective through several large rooms. It deserves this honor. This enormous canvas of Monet’s late period, painted during World War One, is certainly one of the most splendid masterpieces of the museum.
Monet focuses on two patches of water lilies floating on the pond in his garden at Giverny. Unlike many of the paintings in this series, this canvas is very bright. Vibrant reds and pinks pop out the flowers, contrasting with the soft greens of the lily pads and the pale blue of the reflected sky. Curiously enough, a cotton like cloud occupies the upper corner of the painting, when it should be reflected at the lower part of the canvas. It is one of Monet’s favorite game to mix all the landmarks to create confusion in the eyes of the viewer.
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January 21, 2010
Walking around Monet’s pond in summertime gives a strange feeling of deja vu.
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.
Posted in Claude Monet, Giverny, Uncategorized, Water-Garden 3 Comments »
July 16, 2008
At Monet’s time, only white water lilies grew wild in France.
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.
Posted in Flower, Water-Garden 5 Comments »
June 29, 2008
In his water garden at Giverny, Claude Monet had a dock adornated by arches of climbing roses.
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?
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June 10, 2008
Water lilies have their own dreams: being as light as soap bubbles and float in the air…
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.
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