Claude Monet's Impressionism

Monet was fascinated by reflections found in his pond at Giverny

This morning I headed to the Vancouver Art Gallery to check out Claude Monet: Secret Garden that just kicked off late last month and is on until October 1.

Another painting of the waterlilies

Luckily I had a free ticket and got to literally walk in -- there was a pretty long line at the entrance to buy admission tickets.

This exhibition features 38 paintings from the Musee Marmottan Monet in Paris. The museum has the biggest collection of Monet's works in the world, as well as other Impressionist painters like Edgar Degas, Camille Pissaro, Paul Gaugin and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

The museum is currently undergoing renovation, which is why Monet's works are touring around -- with Vancouver as the only North American city stop.

In the show, the paintings focus on his impressionist style and in particular when he lived in Giverny, France, where he lived from 1883 until his death in 1926. We see his enthusiasm for painting in situ as much as possible, to capture the moment, and how he would paint the same subject over and over, studying how the light affects it at different times of the day and seasons.

He once said that he never used the colour black because nature didn't use it, and instead used other colour combinations to paint shadows.

My picture of the pond in 2015, with the bridge at the back

You also see the progression of his work, from the beginning of his impressionist style that becomes more abstract as he gets older, mostly because his eyesight was deteriorating and the frustration of not being able to see the colours as well almost put him off painting.

However, Monet could not not paint -- as a result his colours become more bold and farther from reality, moving away from pastel colours to more burgundies, browns, oranges, and ochre.

This progression was illustrated in his series of paintings of the Japanese bridge at Giverny. In reality the bridge is a pistachio green, with a canopy of wisteria hanging overhead, as well as some weeping willows.

However, in his later years, the colours change and become a more autumnal palette, the brushstrokes aren't very definitive in terms of identifiable shapes, but still strong and determined.

This painting of the bridge was done in 1918-19...

He and his two sons moved to Giverny, a country home he rented with his patron's widow, Alice Hoschede and her six children. They later married. When they moved to Giverny, he set about designing the gardens, and showed his green thumb expertise and enthusiasm.

There he planted many different kinds of flowers and made a pond where he could set up his Japanese-style bridge. It was the reflections in the water that fascinated the artist, inspiring him to paint his most well-known works, the waterlilies.

"These landscapes of water and reflections have become an obsession. It's quite beyond my powers at my age, and yet I want to succeed in expressing what I feel," Monet remarked in 1908.

At the end of the show, there is a small room, where American photographer Stephen Shore took pictures of Giverny, giving visitors a better idea of what the gardens looked like in reality.

... while this one was done 1918 to 1924 that is more abstract

I had the privilege of being at Giverny just over two years ago, and I loved every moment being there, knowing that Monet had wandered the same grounds and we saw the same flowers he planted in the late 19th century.

It is interesting to speculate what kinds of paintings Monet would have produced if his eyesight wasn't so bad -- what would he have done?

After his death in 1926, he did not have a will, but all his possessions were inherited by his younger son Michel. When he died in 1966, he bequeathed what he had to Musee Marmottan Monet.

We are very lucky to see this show and be up close to Monet, who taught us to see things in another way.

Claude Monet: Secret Garden

Until October 1, 2017

Vancouver Art Gallery

750 Hornby Street

Vancouver

www.vanartgallery.bc.ca

Gardens of Inspiration

The Norman garden with Monet's house in the back

Today was one of my highlights of the France trip so far -- a visit to Claude Monet's house in Giverny.

We traveled from Bayeux to Giverny and it took about three hours to get there by coach.

The gorgeous waterlily pond is so picturesque!

Our guide explained that the artist saw the small town from the train and decided to rent a house here in 1883. He became successful with selling his impressionist paintings and was able to buy the house seven years later.

At the time he and his second wife Alice moved here with their eight children -- two from Monet's previous marriage with Camille who died in her 30s and then the six with Alice.

He lived at this house until his death in 1926 and afterwards the estate eventually was given to the state by Fondation Claude Monet. And thank goodness for the foundation for allowing us to have a glimpse into Monet's life and see what he saw when he painted his famous waterlily paintings.

A beautiful yellow dahlia flower in the garden

Monet plowed a lot of his money into the house, buying more land around the house and creating gardens. He gave meticulous instructions to his gardeners, complete with drawings -- of course -- to create two gardens, the Japanese garden and the Norman garden. He even diverted the small stream nearby to keep his pond full of water to grow the waterlilies.

We saw the Japanese one first that was completed in 1893 and it was just like his paintings, lots of bamboo in the back, waterlilies in the pond, a small Japanese bridge in green, wisteria trees nearby, lots of roses, Japanese maple trees, flowers in various pastel colours from pink to mauve, purple and lots and lots of green.

Gorgeous roses wrap around arches leading to the house

It's no wonder his garden was such a wonderful source of inspiration for him!

Next was the Norman garden and again so many different flowers and trees, like roses, sunflowers, lilies, daisies, poppies, dahlias, tulips, forget-me-nots, and lavender. Eventually they led to a pink house with green trim, Monet's house.

Inside we were directed into the sitting room filled with Japanese block prints from the 18th and 19th centuries by Kitagawa Utamaro and Katsushika Hokusai -- Monet was very fond of things Japanese -- followed by a study filled with replicas, including those by Renoir and Bonnard.

The bright yellow kitchen that seats 10 people

Then we went up a narrow staircase to Monet's bedroom, the one in which he died, which overlooks the Norman garden. The white bed is surrounded by paintings and black and white photographs, while Alice's bedroom is more floral in terms of the wallpaper and bed cover.

We were unable to see the childrens' rooms, but back downstairs the kitchen is a wonderful creamy yellow colour, complemented with a rustic red and white tiled floor. The large space fit a table with 10 chairs, a fireplace with more Japanese prints, a mixture of Oriental and Western rustic ceramics, and a massive black stove decorated with a blue and white tiled backsplash.

A bust and picture of Monet in the study filled with paintings

Interestingly the gift shop, which is in another small building is actually Monet's studio. In it there were lots of souvenirs to buy and I snagged a copy of a colouring book of the garden. Adult colouring books are the "in" things these days, a way for people to de-stress! Now I have to get some colouring pencils...