Claude Monet’s Gardens in Giverny
Claude Monet was a starving artist in his early career despite being accepted into the Paris Salon at only 24. He had frequent financial problems, lived in poverty, and moved often to avoid creditors. Heartbroken after Camille — his sweetheart, first wife, mother of his sons, and favorite model to paint — died from uterine cancer at 32 years old, Monet longed for solitude and to be able to paint in peace.
In April 1883, Monet noticed Giverny, a small village on the Seine river in Normandy, while looking out a train window and was drawn to the rural and natural landscape.
He rented a pink farmhouse with a barn that doubled as a painting studio, orchards, and a small garden and moved in with his two boys, his new wife Alice, and her six children. As his wealth grew, he eventually bought the farmhouse and land outright. He began expanding the gardens, built a greenhouse, and designed a spacious second studio with skylights. His gardens would be his greatest source of inspiration for the next 40 years.
Along with purchasing his house and land, Monet was able to hire six gardeners and a cook. Although the gardeners would do most of the physical labor, Monet was the architect, inspired by tranquil Japanese prints and armed with his knowledge of horticulture and his collection of botany books. He wrote detailed instructions to his gardeners every day with precise designs and layouts for planting. He wanted flowers of varying heights and varieties that would give different perspectives and colors. His gardens held flowers like irises, wisteria, peonies, pansies, roses, nasturtiums, poppies, and daffodils — to name just a few.
Monet acquired more land and was able to convince the locals to allow him to divert water from a stream to create a water meadow. He planted local white water lilies next to yellow and blue imported cultivars from Egypt and South America. By 1902, he had a two-acre water garden complete with a Japanese bridge and easels surrounding the meadow so he could capture different perspectives. Wanting everything to be pristine, he offered to pave the town’s road that ran between his hose and water garden to reduce the amount of dust on his plants. One of his gardeners would also arrive early in the morning to remove any debris and past prime flowers from the pond before he painted. He ultimately would create over 250 Waterlilies paintings with alternating light and changing reflections. As Monet said, “The real subject of every painting is light.”
“My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece. I work at my garden all the time and with love. What I need most are flowers. Always. My heart is forever in Giverny, perhaps I owe it to the flowers that I became a painter.”
“Color is my daylong obsession, joy, and torment.”
Even inside his home, Monet wanted color. His sitting room was painted blue and decorated with Japanese woodblock prints. Instead of a dark Victorian style dining room that was fashionable at the time, Monet painted the walls bright yellow. His kitchen, which connects to the dining room, is a stunning bright blue. The outside of the house was similar. He retained the pink walls and painted the shutters and doors green — instead of the traditional gray. Wanting the house to blend in with the garden, Monet added a pergola with climbing roses and Virginia creeper on the facade.
Monet wasn’t only known for being the Father of Impressionism but also a true gourmand.
Monet had a refined palate and enjoyed dining, but he never cooked himself. Instead he employed Marguerite, a culinary master who used only the best ingredients sourced from either the garden or quality producers in France. Her specialties included vert-vert cake, meat pâté, roasted woodcock, fish with beurre blanc, and banana ice cream — Monet’s favorite. After dining at fine restaurants, Monet would obsess over recipes and demand Marguerite to perfect them. She was respected so highly that when she married, Monet hired her husband Paul as his butler to ensure she stayed.
Monet enjoyed fine food for every meal, but was particular about the way his food was prepared. For instance, asparagus had to barely be cooked, sauces seasoned perfectly and not too thick or thin, and his salads had to have a generous amount of black pepper. Monet ate seasonally and locally. He planted herbs and vegetables next to flowers, would forage for wild mushrooms, and kept chickens for their eggs and meat. He was also fond of Périgord truffles, foie gras from Alsace, Provençal olive oil, freshly caught local pike, lobster, and duck. As the Normandy climate is too cold for wines, Monet drank local cider and also liked Sancerre from the Loire Valley.
Monet painted at different times of the day to capture the way light interacted with the landscape. To capture the essence of the time, he had to paint quickly (which is why you should view his art at a distance because of his broad brush strokes). However, he didn’t like to paint in the harsh noon lighting and would instead take a long lunch promptly at 11:30am, often entertaining other artists al fresco in his gardens. His tables would be set with his designed china and fresh flowers. Monet was a generous and attentive host who took pleasure in sharing long meals and good conversation (usually about food) with his guests and family.
“I want to put in an order for two bottles of champagne and some morel mushrooms — that’s what I fancy for some reason…”
Giverny is where Monet found his ultimate success, both financially and with his artistic style.
His gardens were s0 unlike the common French style of manicured shrubs and instead a brilliant symphony of color. Some might say he had an obsession with his garden — even when traveling, he would regularly check up on the plants by sending letters to his family to inquire about the soil or any flowers that had bloomed — but they were a testament to his passion and integrity for painting en plein air in the French countryside.
“Aside from painting and gardening, I am good for nothing.”
It was easy to get inspiration from Monet’s lifestyle, art, and gardens for The June Box.
See for yourself! Tour Monet’s garden and pink house in Giverny.
“I don’t believe I shall ever leave Giverny.”
