Saturday, May 30, 2015

Historic gardens.

 "I want to paint the air around the bridge, the house, the boat. The beauty of the air where they are, and it is nothing other than impossible."  Claude Monet

At one time the pink house of Monet at Giverny was surrounded by a walled woodland. He removed all of the trees except for a few pines near the house and proceeded to develop an "unconstrained garden" of flowers with complimentary colors and blooming trees. This garden has become famous because of all of his paintings. He also dug a number of ponds and these were the settings for his famous water lily paintings. We were so lucky to have arrived very early before the crowds and able to get at least a few photos without people! 

Lucky to get this shot with no people crossing!


Above is the riot of colors. There are something like nine gardeners working on this!  You can see the pink house in the background.  Lots of structure and trellises.

 
There were a few artists/botanists(?) spending time sketching.

"It took me some time to understand my water lilies… I cultivated them with no thought of painting them… One does not fully appreciate a landscape in one day… And then, suddenly, I had a revelation of the magic of my pond. I took my palette. From this moment, I have had almost no other model."  Claude Monet

And above is the famous water garden with the water lilies, unfortunately, not yet in bloom.
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8 comments:

  1. The Furry Gnome8:01 AM

    Oh, tell us more! I recognized that bridge as soon as I saw it. One of the favourite gardens we've ever visited, but I never did get a picture of that bridge with no people! Did you also get to see his enormous paintings of the water lilies in the Orangerie in Paris? What an amazing combination, the real garden, and the famous paintings of it. So glad to find another garden lover too!

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  2. ellen abbott8:35 AM

    that's a pretty big pond to dig our by hand. I'm almost more impressed with that! love the riot of color in the garden.

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  3. joeh9:12 AM

    Just play with the focus a little and you have a perfect Monet.

    Nice photos.

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  4. Red5:50 PM

    It must be a special feeling to be able to walk where Monet did his work.

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  5. messymimi9:17 PM

    How delightful to see that for yourself!

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  6. Linda Reeder11:13 PM

    AH yes. I remember it well. We were there on May Day of all days, one of the stops on our Viking River Boat cruise on the Seine. It is a memory that lives well in my minds eye. I can see it all clearly still.
    Later in that trip, in Paris, we visited several galleries of Monet paintings and a museum devoted entirely to Monet. So wonderful.

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  7. Folkways Note Book7:42 PM

    What I like about the photos you took are the very naturalness of the gardens. Many times gardens are so contrived and unnatural. Nice -- barbara

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  8. Bob Bushell10:38 AM

    So very beautiful, the gardens are superb Tabor.

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Glad to hear from you once again. I really like these visits. Come sit on this log and tell me what you are thinking.

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