Claude Monet and the Sistine Chapel of Impressionism

 

A world of art and love

 

Just one hour away from the heart of Paris, in Giverny, there's a garden. Garden full of the most famous water lilies in the world. People from Sweden, USA, Japan or just France come to view them. What is so special about this water lilies? They have been immortalized by Claude Monet.

 

By Dominique Verschuren

 

Everyday Claude Monet (1840-1926), the master of Impressionism, sat in his garden. Painting what he saw. No time for psychologizing or referring to ancient themes. He only gave an impression of what he observed: the trivialities of his garden.

These days those water lilies are still there, being watched by hundreds of tourists from all over the world. A queue of people stands outside, patiently waiting to enter. While waiting you're informed where you are. Included a map of the gardens: from the rose garden (number 4 on the map) and Monet's house (number 3) till the toilets (number 5). Always useful. You even hear and smell that toilet from outside. On paintings Monet's garden is a piece of art. In reality it's influenced by the elements.

 

It's a garden for fanatics. In a double way Monet wanted to control nature. It wasn't only on canvas that he tried to give nature a complete new dimension and meaning. On Le Bassin aux Nymphéas for instance shape and content make love, melting together as two lovers. But beside this manipulation of nature in colours and stripes Monet also tried to control nature in his own back garden. This piece of land he bought in 1893 - he was 53 years old - contains the small stream the Ru. The exotic water lilies laid in artificially heated waters, imported from Japan. Monet tuned the colours and shapes of his plants very carefully. He left nothing to change to write the last chapter of his genius: the Sistine Chapel of Impressionism.

 

A water lily world

 

Monet saw landscapes without clouds and horizons. It causes disorientation and a new way of seeing. You dive in another universe. The distinct between you and the outside world starts to fade. You become one with this world, a world which released you from worries, decisions and responsibility. A place where you can spending some time talking about the important things in life. Just sitting at a table, drinking tea and chatting about art and love. About love for art and the art of loving.

The garden which was constructed from a conceptual plan was idealized as an untouchable image of nature. The female symbolic of the water lily was a part of it. Mallarmé's poem Le Nymphéa refers to the mysterious sources of life and the undivided nature of being. Monet painted the water lilies on huge canvases as a decoration in a round without frames. Because nature doesn't stop at the end of your canvas. Le Bassin aux Nymphéas can still be viewed in Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris.

 

In 1911 his second wife died, followed by his son three years later. Monet got depressed for a couple of years, consumed by loneliness and sorrow. He was struck by cataracts but cured. He continued painting. With his last strengths he painted new water lilies, unsatisfied by his own new performances. All this time he was cared by his daughter-in-law. On December 6th 1926 he died in Giverny. Two days later he was buried without pomp and speeches.

 

The water lilies still grow. In his garden, on the canvas. It's an opportunity for everyone who wants to be inspired by beauty.

(Thanks to Helen Williams)

Fondation Claude Monet, rue Claude Monet 27620 Giverny
Open daily from 9.30 am to 6.00 pm
From April 1st to November 1st.