Before I received my copy of Monet’s Passion by Elizabeth Murray, I knew this was going to be a beautiful volume. When I opened the packaging I was overwhelmed by the book’s beauty: the rich feel of the jacket, the amazingly rich photographs that seem to have captured every aspect of Monets’ garden, and the exquisite transparent overlays with pen and ink sketches. Having written a few books about prehistoric art myself I am all to aware of the issues involved in publishing high quality art books at reasonable prices. This latest edition of Monet’s Passion, published in 2010 to celebrate its 20th anniversary, really and truly is a snip at only $35.

But, let me not give the impression that Monet’s Passion is nothing more than a superbly produced coffee-table, picture book. For that would be wrong. The subtitle accurately sums up what lies behind this book and the wonderful images it contains: ideas, inspiration and insights. Elizabeth Murray explores the history and conceptual development of Monet’s garden from the artist’s time there, what he was creating and how, to the present Giverny, where the garden is one of France’s most visited attractions, and beyond Giverny, where today gardener’s of all capabilities seek to draw on Monet’s inspiration where ever they live.

Elizabeth Murray, a professional gardener and artist, gave up what she was doing in the US and volunteered her gardening skills for the restoration of Monet’s garden. In return she was offered an apartment and a food allowance. And for nine months she worked alongside the French gardening team, working five days a week from 8 am to 5 pm. For these efforts in bringing this wonderful part of France’s heritage back to life, Murray now has privileged access to the gardens and so she is in an authoritative position to be writing about the themes covered in this book for she has experienced the inspiration of Monet’s garden all year round. I only ever visit the gardens when they are open to the public, so from the beginning of April to the end of October, but I am always truly amazed how different the gardens are throughout these seven months, how there is always something different to take in. And this is a quality of the garden that Murray has captured in both her photographs and her writing.

Besides seemingly exploring every inter-twining aspect of Monet’s skills as a gardener, horticulturist and colourist, his love of flowers, colour and light, and how these are manifested in the ground and on the canvas, a substantial part of the book is about ‘Bringing Giverny Home’. This is not a ‘How to Recreate Giverny in Your Backyard’ manual, but rather an experiential approach to creating your own inspirational garden using some of the principles Monet used in creating his garden, the same principles his restorers rediscovered during their restoration work.

This book is a must have, and read, for anyone who has ever contemplated the many paintings Monet produced of his gardens, but particularly those of his gardens at Giverny which he did more to create than anywhere else, and for anyone who has visited Monet’s gardens in Giverny and felt inspired by them.

Monet’s Passion has justifiably been lavishly produced. There are 140 pages and over 75 colour photographs, there are also colour garden plans, transparent overlays with masterful pen and in sketches providing extra detail, and a number of historical photographs. The Smyth-sewn casebound book is 8 ¾ by 8 ¾ inches, with a ribbon marker and quality jacket. Monet’s Passion is published by Pomegranate Communications, Petaluma, CA, and is available from their website, click here. This wonderful book is also available in electronic form, follow the link above and you will be able to purchase a download of the book for your computer or laptop.

Elizabeth Murray, professional gardener and artist, in front of Monet’s house, Giverny.

Monet’s house and garden re-opens to the public on 1 April 2011. Just as Elizabeth’s love for the gardens grew with the blossoming of each new plant, my appreciation for the people who have restored Monet’s gardens, and those who continue to look after it grows with each new visit. And, I can not wait to visit it again in April. At Basse Copette I am offering 2-night, all-inclusive Spring breaks that include a trip to Giverny and Vétheuil. So become one of the first to see in Spring 2011. For all bookings made before the end of January 2011, I will include a complimentary copy of Monet’s Passion. Click here, for more information about the Impressionist Spring breaks at Basse Copette.

Claude Monet is not only well known for his paintings of the water lilies on the ponds he created in his Garden at Giverny, he also painted numerous fields of poppies, while living in Argenteuil and later in Giverny. No visit to Giverny in June or July should miss the many poppy fields surrounding the village.

One of the most well known of all of Monet’s paintings, mainly because it is the most reproduced of all his paintings, is a field of poppies he painted while living in Argenteuil; a painting that was included in the First Impressionist Exhibition in Paris of 1874.

The painting above is of a field to the south of Giverny. Fields of poppies are typical in Normandy, and if you visit Giverny during June and July you will be able to see some fields of poppies yourself and experience for yourself what it is that captivated Monet. I took the photograph below at the beginning of July, under quite a dramatic sky. This particular field lies beyond the car park and the picnic area, to the south of Giverny and Monet’s garden.

The following two paintings by Monet were made from a vantage point above his house, Le Pressoir, in 1885 and 1886 respectively, shortly after he arrived in Giverny with his family, and before he got going with constructing his ponds.

Claude Monet, Champs de coquelicots à Giverny. 1885. Oil on canvas. 60 x 73 cm. © Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond. The Mellon Collection of French Art.
This was one of the first of Monet’s paintings to be purchased by an American collector, having received widespread recognition at its USA premiere in 1886. It is one of four paintings of poppy fields made by Monet in the summer of 1885 in Giverny.

Claude Monet, La Meule de foin (Haystack). 1886. Oil on canvas. 61 x 81 cm. © State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

Claude Monet, Champs de coquelicots à Giverny. 1885. Oil on canvas. 65 x 81 cm. © Musée des Beaux-Arts et de la Céramique, Rouen.
Another of the four paintings of poppy fields in Giverny painted in the summer of 1885. This one is taken from the plains to the south of Giverny, looking towards the village.

Besides Monet’s house and garden and the Musée de Impressionismes, there are at least six other galleries in Giverny that display contemporary art. Some of these are dedicated to the work of one artist, others have a rolling programme of exhibitions throughout the season. So if you are visiting Giverny for the day or even staying in or near Giverny overnight there really is a lot to do.

One of these galleries, Galerie 60, will be hosting a joint exhibition in July of art by Mary Towsey, Amanda Hewitt and Alan Bonner. Galerie 60 is a wonderful exhibition space, from the road it looks small, but as you enter you immediately realise how wrong that initial impression was. The joint exhibition will have about 60 pieces, paintings and sculptures.

Mary Towsey studied art at Goldsmith’s College, University of London, as well as at the Epsom College of Art. Mary’s art has been exhibited extensively in both France and England. Like Claude Monet, Mary has a house in Vétheuil and also like Monet has been inspired by the wonderful surrounding landscape. Her vibrant use of colour has rightly earned Mary a great reputation as a landscape painter.

Mary Towsey’s ‘Clacheloze’.

Joining Mary in the July exhibition in Giverny is her daughter Amanda Hewitt. Amanda, who won the Lions Club National Prize for Sculpture in 2008, is inspired by the female form, particularly in her pregnant state, as well as the theme of mother and child.

Amanda Hewitt’s ‘La Femme Enceinte’.

Alan Bonner is an inspiration to all of those who yearn to be an artist but never quite dared to take the necessary first step. Alan came to art late in his career, but his acrylic paintings certainly do not show a lack of experience. He started out with figurative paintings, but has increasingly moved towards a more abstract/cubist feel.

One of Alan Bonner’s paintings to be on show at Galerie 60, Giverny this summer.

The exhibition opens on 3 July, and runs through to 30 July 2010.

The other day guests staying in my Normandy Bed & Breakfast returned from a day trip to Giverny. Even though they were keen gardeners themselves, they were quite overwhelmed by the numerous displays of tulips in Monet’s Garden and the gardens of the Musée des Impressionismes. This was all the excuse I needed to have a day trip of my own. It will come as no surprise that the various gardens in Giverny look spectacular all year round, and Giverny in spring is no different. So, here are a few photographs for MGN readers to enjoy. Click on the thumbnails to enlarge the photographs.

Monet’s House and Gardens re-open in the spring, 1 April to be precise, and are open from 09h30 am to 18h00, with the last admission at 17.30. Monet’s garden is certainly a tad more manicured and organised than it was in Monet’s time, but today visitors get a wonderful idea of what it was Monet created in his own days with his gardeners; and perhaps what they might have gone on to achieve had they had the various plants and cultivars available to us today. In any event for anyone with a passion for gardens, Giverny is not to be missed; at any time of the year.

Also opening at the beginning of April is the Musée des Impressionismes. This museum is only in its second year, but it has already earned an enviable reputation for curating some innovative exhibitions of French impressionist art.

Spring in Giverny, the view from the upper floor of Monet’s house out across his garden.

The main attraction in Giverny is obviously Monet’s house and gardens. But any visitor to Giverny really should not miss the new impressionist museum. The Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny opened its doors 1 May 2009, taking over from the Terra Foundation’s Museum of American Art in Giverny.

One of the ‘rooms’ in the gardens of the Musée des Impressionnismes, Giverny

The state of the art galleries are large and airy, providing powerful display spaces, which is essential to enable the kind of exhibitions of impressionist art this museum proposes to curate. The Museum prides itself in being very well integrated with its garden, which is typical of the gardens of this part of Normandy. The remarkable gardens were designed by the famous landscape artist Mark Rudkin. Using traditional features the garden is divided into ‘rooms’, which are planted with flowers of primary colours, white, blue, red, magenta and yellow, in each.

The new museum is the result of a partnership between the leading regional bodies and the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. The focus of this new museum is the history of impressionism and its aftermath. And the first exhibition was Le Jardin de Monet à Giverny: l’invention d’un paysage, 1 May – 15 August 2009 (Monet’s Garden in Giverny: Inventing the Landscape). It really was a stunning opening show! The exhibition told the story of Monet’s time in Giverny, and the impact that had on the Impressionist Movement, with some 20 key paintings, 30 historical photographs and numerous other archival documents, including the Musée d’Orsay and Musée Marmottan Monet. If you did not get to see the exhibition, the exhibition catalogue is available, and is essential for any French impressionist enthusiast.

Claude Monet, Water Lilies, 1914-1917, Oil on canvas (135 X 145 cm). Private Collection. One of Monet’s water lily paintings that was on show at the opening exhibition at the Impressionist Museum in Giverny, 2009.

To visit the museum’s website, click here.

For almost 43 years, from 1883 to 1926, Claude Monet lived in Giverny, Normandy. There he combined his passion for colour, flowers and gardening and created one of the now most famous and well known historical gardens in World. A garden that most people know having seen reproductions of his wonderful paintings.

Anyone visiting Paris or north western France should not pass on even the slightest possibility to visit Claude Monet’s house and gardens in Giverny. It really is very easy to get to, for details follow this link: How to Get to Giverny.

A Brief History
Monet died on 5 December 1926, leaving the property and art housed therein to his only surviving son Michel Monet. Michel was not, however, interested in the family residence, and so Blanche Monet Hoschedé, Alice’s daughter and widow of Monet’s elder son Jean, took care of the house and garden. When Blanche died in 1947, the house and gardens were all but abandoned.

Michel Monet died in 1966, leaving the property and collections to the Académie des Beaux Arts. Funds did not allow for any much needed restoration. The roof was repaired so as to protect the ‘Japanese Estampes’, and the remaining art was removed to the Musée Marmottan in Paris.

In 1977 the Académie des Beaux Arts hands over the restoration of Monet’s house and garden in Giverny to Gérald Van der Kemp, famed for his restoration at the Château de Versailles. After three years of extensive renovations to both the garden and the house and the founding of the Fondation Claude Monet, the property is opened to the public on 1st of June. Today it welcomes over 400 000 visitors a year, second only in Normandy to Mont Saint Michel.

Opening Times
Monet’s house and garden is open seven days a week from the 1st of April to the 1st of November (Except 26 April 2010, when it is closed), from 09h30 am to 18h00, with the last admission at 17.30.

Admission Prices
Adults: 6,00 €
Children under 12: 3,50 €
Children under 7: free
Students: 4,50 €
Disabled: 3,00 €

As this is the second most popular attraction in Normandy, after Mont Saint Michel, to avoid queues it is now possible to book entry tickets online. While you are likely to get tickets at Monet’s house, from about May through to the end of September you may encounter long queues – over an hour; buying tickets in advance allows you to avoid these.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS FOR MONET’S HOUSE AND GARDEN HERE

One of the ponds created by Monet in Giverny, now open to the public from April to November each year.

“In Giverny he has a large orchard with, infront of the house, just a few flowerbeds, and two long beds on either side of the central path, with its entrance on the Chemin du Roy.” Jean-Pierre Hoschedé, 1960*

If the Normandy port city of Le Havre is the birthplace of Impressionism, then the Normandy village of Giverny is widely thought of now as the heart of impressionist art. But, by the time Claude Monet moved his family to Giverny in 1883 the heady days of the impressionist revolution in French art circles were in fact over. With his Giverny gardens and the lily ponds he created, Monet went on to place this small rural village at the centre of the impressionism. And today thousands of people visit Monet’s house and garden each year.

Giverny has archaeological evidence of occupation extending back to Stone Age times. A stone monument from this period is said to be Saint Radegonde’s grave. The Romanesque style church that dates to the 11th century is dedicated to Saint Radegonde: Queen of the Francs during the 6th century, and devoted to working for the sick and the poor, and was believed to cure scabies.

When Monet and his family moved to the village in 1883, it was largely an agricultural community of about 300 inhabitants: mostly farmers and a few middle class families. The village consists of two streets on the hillside lined with low houses with typical slate roofs, their walls covered with creepers. These streets are crossed by narrow lanes running down the hill. One of the streets, now Claude Monet Road, runs through the village. The ‘Chemin du Roy’ (now a busy departmental road that links Giverny to the nearby town of Vernon) follows the banks of the River Epte. Claude Monet’s house lies between the two streets.

Claude Monet first noticed the village while passing by on a train – this line has long since closed. In April of 1883 he and Alice Hoschedé, and their 8 children (two sons from Monet’s marriage with Camille – who died in 1879, and Alice’s four daughters and two sons from her marriage to Ernest Hoschedé) moved into Le Pressoir. At first he rented the property, and only became the own in 1890.

Now in his late forties, Monet went on to create some of the most iconic images of impressionist art – the paintings of water lilies in his ponds and the Japanese bridge.

Monet Lived in Giverny until his death in 1926; he and many of his family have been interred in the family vault which can still be visited in the village cemetry alongside the church.

It was not until 1980, nearly 100 years after the Monet family moved to Giverny, that their house and gardens were fully restored and opened to the public, thanks to the efforts of the Fondation Claude Monet. They have become an extremely popular tourist attraction. But despite the recent rise in visitor numbers to the village, it has managed to retain some of the charm so characteristic of Normandy villages.

*Quote from page 57, Jean-Pierre Hoschedé’s Claude Monet, ce mal connu. 1960. Cailler Publishers, Geneva.