Monet's Beloved Giverny

 

Enjoying Giverny

 

The entrance to the house

This week, a short, short visit with my grand-daughter to see the house and gardens into which Monet poured his artistic soul during forty three years; virtually, half his life. Giverny, in Normandy, is understandably acknowledged as one of the most important cultural sights/sites in France, both for the French and for visitors, to experience. His wonderful sensitivity to light and to colour, inspired the creation of his gardens and infused the interior of the house he loved. One can view the whole, as a stage for the man and his extraordinary artistic talent.

The sun-filled dining room.
Photo taken when only two visitors from
the 1000 others in the house, were present

The house is splendid, particularly the dining room, to enter which is like walking into pure sunlight! The creamy yellow walls and Normandy dressers, a mixture of pale yellow and a stronger yellow, painted at a time when dark walls, heavy curtains and antique furniture were the norm, are striking and uplifting. This, together with the magnificent kitchen, were one of the two most important hubs of the house [the other naturally being centred on the studio.] Monet and his wife, Alice, loved entertaining; they loved good food, conviviality, conversation and friendship, and this sun-filled room and the spacious kitchen beyond with its rows of gleaming copper pans, provided the perfect setting. The lemon dining room walls presented a superb backcloth for many of Monet’s large collection of Japanese prints, an enduring passion of his. The spacious kitchen, in two shades of blue with blue and white Rouen tiles, has, as a focal point, a large cooking range with a wall of blue and white tiles above. The kitchen manages to be both food-and-cooking-focused and aesthetically beautiful, a very Monet achievement.

Blue and white tiled fireplace and kitchen range

We had to queue for entry, apparently “not for long”, about 20 minutes, and so many people were admitted that, once inside the house, a group shuffle tour was all that was possible. This was mass tourism in action and, of course, little of Monet’s soul was experienced. The rooms are delightful, crowded with furniture and pottery, walls are lined with Impressionist paintings, including many of Monet’s, plus family photographs but it was impossible to stop and savour our surroundings and indeed, to actually see everything in situ. Alas, this is the modern price of renown. Our best experience in the house, was in the dining room and kitchen which, by some miracle of ebb and flow, were relatively empty during our 2/3 minutes there. We both admired the sunny décor, the ambience, the creamy walls lined with prints; long enough to doff our caps to Monet’s artistic grace. And we continued to satisfy our artistic sensitivities through the Blue Salon, the Epicerie, the Studio Drawing Room and the Water-lily Studio. In truth the extent and variety of the Giverny house provides a feast for the eyes.

Luscious landscape on all sides

Beneath the foliage, the Japanese bridge

For my grand-daughter and me, the gardens were perhaps the biggest treasure of our day; from the Grande Allee and many other corners  curves and crannies, arches and vistas were revealed, little paths with overhanging plants en fleur, materialised and idyllic lawns and flower beds opened up to delight the senses. Monet began almost immediately after he arrived in Giverny, to plant flowers which pleased both sight and smell. And as he acquired more income and land, and gardeners, his Impressionistic eye and love of gardening resulted in evermore profusive and lavish planting. Wherever one walked there were garlands, banks and hedges of flowers; further along, lawns, a stream, a lake. He walked the gardens several times a day, noting and deciding; indeed the gardens at Giverny became his central passion, and the results are still in evidence today. Arsene Alexandre felt that the garden gave Monet the arena to experience pure happiness and provide him with a spiritual refuge; ‘the garden is the man,’ he judged.

Claude Monet in the garden, near the house

                                                                              

The crowds were a little thinner in the gardens on our visit, and the space for pleasurable appreciation consequently the greater. The water area of the grounds is a beautiful magnet again with surrounding floral planting, water lilies in profusion, a slender bamboo forest alongside a meandering stream. One can sense the contentment and aesthetic judgement of the artist who imagined all this beauty and was able, not only to achieve and present it, but also to share and bequeath it.

                                                       Observations on Monet and Giverny

“One must absolutely make a pilgrimage to Giverny, to this flowered  sanctuary, to have a better understanding of the master, a better grasp of the sources of his inspiration and to imagine him still alive among us."      Gerald Van der Kemp.

I sometimes went and sat on the bench from where Monet had seen so many things in the reflections of his water garden. My inexperienced eye needed perseverance to follow from afar the Master’s brush to the ends of his revelations.”    Clemenceau.

Japanese bridge with a small audience

“The general aspect of the garden, especially the little green bridge, gave it the name ‘Japanese
garden’’ to the area. Mr. Hayashi, the organiser from Japan at the Paris exposition in 1900, was also struck by this resemblance, which Monet said he hadn’t sought after at all. He nonetheless had a deep love of Japan.”    Maurice Kahn.

“From a bare meadow, without one tree, but watered by a babbling and winding branch of the river Epte, he created a truly enchanting garden, digging a large pond in the middle and around its edge planting exotic trees and weeping willows whose branches fall in long tears on the bank, designing all around paths whose arches of greenery, in continually crossing and recrossing one another, giving the illusion of a large park, sowing on the pond a profusion of thousands and thousands of water lilies, whose rare and selected species colour, with all the colours of the prism, from violet, red and orange to pink, lilac and mauve, and lastly, planting on the river Epte, at its outlet, one of those small rustic humped bridges, as we see in the watercolours of the eighteenth century and in the paintings of Jouy.”     Thiebault- Sisson.

"It took me time to understand my water lilies ...I planted them without thinking of painting them ...A landscape doesn't imbue you in a day ....And then, all at once, I had the enchanting revelation of my pond. I picked up my palette. Since that time I've hardly had another model." Monet.

Bronze of Monet in a sitting room with
walls lined with Impressionist paintings

Copper utensils against the Rouen tiles in the kitchen

Edge of the bamboo forest with
picturesque stream fed by the River Epte

"It is at Giverny that one had to have seen Claude Monet to know him, to know his character, his love of life, and his innermost nature...... This house and garden are also works of art and Monet spent his whole life creating and perfecting them."    Gustave Geffroy.

Claude Monet in front of one of his iconic water lily paintings

                                                                    Monet: 1840-1926

“What has become of me, you can well imagine: I work and with difficulty because I’m losing my sight each day and I spend an enormous amount of time looking after my garden: it is a joy for me and with the beautiful days that we’ve had, I’m jubilant and in admiration of nature: with it, one doesn’t have time to be bored.” Monet writing to Gaston Bernheim-Jeune.