Visit Claude Monet's Water Garden
French Painter’s Giverny, Normandy Home is a Garden Tour Highlight
Apr 17, 2009
Serene, Impressionist water lilies float on a pond. Claude Monet’s water paintings are worthy of any garden room. These Impressionist masterpieces have been reprinted in numerous formats such as t-shirts and posters and have become part of popular culture. Where did Monet find his inspiration? In his water garden. In 1883, he bought a house in the village of Giverny, and he lived and painted there until he died in 1926.
Water Inspired Monet
By a matter of fortuitous circumstance, a short time before he purchased the Giverny property, Monet visited an exhibit of prints by an artist named Hiroshige. Monet was thrilled by the exotic bamboo and Japanese bridges. Other influences from Japan influenced Monet’s sense of light and color in the water garden. Monet was friends with a Mr. Hayashi, who sold woodblock prints from Japan. Monet was also inspired by a trip to Holland, during which has saw piles of tulips by the side of the canals. Their reflection in the water began his exploration into painting the reflections of water plants.
The Plants of Monet’s Water Garden
Like most water gardeners, Monet was constrained by money and time and began with a relatively small pond that grew larger. Today, the garden is surrounded by paths covered in rhododendrons, tree peonies, and irises, all drawing inspiration from Japanese gardens. Grasses and willows tuck snug to the banks. The bridge was covered in a trellis that hosted wisteria, and the dock is covered in roses. Monet was fond of simple cottage plants as well as plants that were exotic in his time, such as bamboo.
Water Lilies in Monet’s Garden
Monet’s water lilies are the focus for many who visit the water garden. In the beginning, Monet placed a small line of lilies in the pond. As the pond grew, he added more lilies and also hired a gardener who had the job of washing the lilies every morning so that the artist could paint them.
Monet purchased many of his water lilies as young plants from a plant breeder called Joseph Bory Latour-Marliac. Monet was also a keen propagator of water lilies. He cultivated mystery around the hybrids that he developed and was especially interested in developing sterile cultivars of his lilies, likely to protect the secrets of his paintings and his garden. It is difficult to trace the parentage of many of the lilies in Monet’s garden.
Touring Monet’s Garden
For those who are interested in garden tourism, water gardens, and art history, a visit to the water garden at Giverny is an excellent choice. Bus tours are available from Paris, and some visit Versailles as well as Monet’s garden. Visitors to Monet’s home can take a tour of both house and garden. The home is full of prints from Japan, another indication of the Japanese influences in the garden.
When to Visit the Garden
The highlights of the garden are determined by the season. In the spring, the season that Monet first saw the garden, the blossoms and bulbs of the garden bloom in an enchanting light. Summer is the season of strong color: gladioli, nasturtiums, and sunflowers. Autumn brings a mist to the pond, and winter highlights the stark structures of the dock and the bridge, though this was a season when Monet often painted elsewhere. Vivian Russell’s book Monet’s Garden: Through the Seasons at Giverny (Frances Lincoln, 2008) is an excellent read and gives the reader a walk through the year of the garden.
Visiting an artist’s garden can be an inspiration to gardeners and artists alike. Discover the influences and the three dimensional artistic creation of Claude Monet by taking a tour of his garden.
Sources:
Ariane, Guide in Monet’s Garden. Giverny Impression.
Russell, Vivian. 2008. Monet’s Garden: Through the Seasons at Giverny. Frances Lincoln.
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