The fallen leaves of the three liquidambars look like stars picked on the surface of Monet’s pond at Giverny.
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.
This is the Famous Japanese Bridge that Claude Monet painted so often.
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.
Fondation Claude Monet at Giverny generally closes for the Winter on October 31st, but this year Claude Monet’s home will remain open two more days on Saturday November 1 and Sunday November 2, 2008.
It is a unique opportunity to appreciate as late as possible in season, the changing colors of the trees around the lily pond and the warm tones of the vine on the house Monet inhabited for 43 years.
Original also, visitors will be able to stroll in the gardens at sunset. It is a fantastic experience to see Monet’s garden invaded by the shades, just before it fells asleep for a five-month-winter.
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.
I am absolutely excited by the news I’ve just read in the local newspaper of Vernon: next year, the Fine Arts museum of Giverny (temporarily named Impressionist Museum, but its name may change) will start its new life with an incredible exhibition. The organisers plan to obtain 30 Monets! The theme will be, obviously enough, Monet’s gardens.
It seems too fantastic to be true, but I’m not dreaming. Imagine! The visitor will be able to see the paintings on the very place where they were created, to go from the canvases to the garden, from the garden to the canvases. A unique, unforgetable experience. It will be absolutely gorgeous. Visitors will leave Giverny their eyes full of beauty and harmony.
The new museum will open with this exceptional exhibition on May 1st, 2009, one month later than Monet’s home and gardens at Giverny, opening on April 1st, 2009. The paintings by the master of Impressionism will stay at Giverny through August 15th.
An exhibition of Joan Mitchell‘s paintings is scheduled from August 23rd through October 31st, 2009. The American artist Joan Mitchell has a direct connection with Monet: she bought and lived in the house neighbouring his former house at Vétheuil, 20 km from Giverny.
In the future the museum of Giverny will constitute its own permanent collection. It could be open year round. It’s hard to imagine better news, isn’t it?