In Memoriam

by Ariane ~ June 15, 2008

The island bed located just under Monet’s windows at Giverny has a special meaning.

It doesn’t obey the rules Monet applied elsewhere in the garden to compose the flower beds. In fact, Monet didn’t create this one. It is a copy of an island bed he had seen and liked at his aunt Jeanne Lecadre.

Claude Monet painted the garden of his aunt several times when he was 26. On the canvases the same roses in trees and pink geraniums surrounded by dianthus can be seen, but they were painted at his aunt in Sainte Adresse, not in Giverny.

Monet copied this island bed to remember his youth and his aunt. She meant a lot to him, she encouraged him to become a painter.