Travels with Forty Roses: Giverny

Both John and I have always talked about visiting the Gardens of Monet in Giverny, as we have a particular passion for the Impressionist group of painters. The paintings of Claude Monet hold enormous appeal, especially the waterlily series that he worked on for the last years of his life.

It was in 1881, from a window in the train, and after the tragic death of his wife Camille in 1879 at the age of 32, that he first saw Giverny. Monet, Alice Hoschedé who was the wife of his friend and patron, and both his and her children moved to the house in Giverny, where he planned and planted a large garden and where he painted for much of his life. Following the death of her estranged husband, Monet married Alice Hoschedé in 1892. The balance of his life was devoted to his family, his painting and to the creation of his garden and lily pond. The garden was expressly created to become the focus of the remainder of his painting life. It is believed that in an earlier time of his life, in Holland, he saw the tulip fields, which sparked the idea of colour blocks. Eventually, he translated this idea to the confines of the Garden at Giverny and his paintings. Seeing the gardens In reality is rather overwhelming. The plants are packed together in a wilderness of type and glorious colour. We visited on a dark and fog ridden morning and my first photos show the sullenness of the sky. I worried that there was no sunshine but later the sun broke through and we returned, after a wonderful hot coffee and slice of quiche, to circumnavigate the paths once again. The sun brought an entirely different dimension to the gardens and the lily pond. We loved it all and lingered long into the day. There were few people, as the summer is the highlight for most. But we found this time of year evocative and it was as if the garden itself was in mourning for the great artist. The Nymphéas or Waterlilies occupied Claude Monet for almost 30 years until he died in 1926, age 86. Upon his death the huge panels of this series were donated to France and have been displayed since 1927 at the Musèe de L’Orangerie in Paris. The series is a monumental work of some 300 or so pieces, 40 of which are in large format. To enter the L’Orangerie and view this work is to be totally surrounded, as if in the garden itself. Monet focused on the reflections in the water and I attempted, in my amateur way, to do the same. Below is a series of photos taken in overcast and then broken sunlight. It is autumn and a feeling of loss and quietude pervaded the lily pond portion of the garden, offset by the riotous colours in the rest of the garden. We visited the rambling house and walked through the rooms where the family lived; the kitchen with its brilliant copper pots and huge cookstove, the big dining room with yellow and blue china and a homely vase of garden flowers in the center of the large family dinner table. It was possible to imagine a happy and creative life in this place as his gifted legacy of paintings to the world has displayed.

I know I have overdone the garden photos, but to me it was a highlight of all we have done in this beautiful country…right up there with visiting the tulip fields in Holland, first with John and then my sister on a beautiful day in May.