Video: "The garden is his workshop, his palette": The Giverny estate, where Claude Monet got his inspiration
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
As they say, it was love at first sight. When the famous impressionist Claude Monet rode the train past the village of Giverny, he was stunned by the lush greenery of the area. The artist realized that he would spend the rest of his life here. It was Giverny that became the main place for the painter's inspiration, and the gardens, on the improvement of which Monet spent half his life, are today considered a real treasure of France.
Claude Monet settled in Giverny in 1883. At that time, money in the family was difficult, and he barely had enough money to rent the estate. But after a few years, the artist's affairs went uphill, his paintings began to sell well, and in 1890 Monet managed to buy out the estate. Having become the full owner of this place, the artist expanded the house and began to create another masterpiece of his - a flower garden.
The artist cut down conifers and replaced them with rose bushes, the garden was moved deeper into the site so as not to spoil the flower garden with its appearance. The work on the arrangement of the garden took more than one year. At first, his children and wife helped him, and then Monet hired a whole group of gardeners. The artist has carefully thought out the whole floral ensembles.
The French statesman Georges Clemenceau once noted:
Monet's most famous canvases were painted in Giverny. The artist's wife Alice Oshede also said:. The impressionist himself admitted to reporters in an interview that everything he earned went to the gardens.
The death of her beloved Alice in 1911 shocked Monet very much. On this basis, the artist began to develop cataracts. His paintings became more and more blurred, but the painter did not stop painting and working in the garden.
When Claude Monet passed away in 1926, his son Michel inherited the estate. Unfortunately, he did not share his father's passion for flowers. The paintings were sold out, the house fell into disrepair, and the magnificent flower beds were overgrown with weeds.
In 1966, Michel Monet died in a car accident. He had no heirs and, according to his will, the Giverny estate became the property of the Académie des Beaux Arts. Then the academy did not have the funds to restore the estate, which was in a deplorable state. The famous Japanese bridge, destroyed by rodents, rotted more and more every year, furniture was broken by vandals, the garden turned into an overgrown area.
In 1976, the restoration of Claude Monet's estate was undertaken by Gérald Van der Kemp, famous for the restoration of Versailles. The energetic restorer turned to American philanthropists for help, and funds were found. It took many years for the Giverny estate to regain its former splendor. Today, Claude Monet's gardens are considered a national treasure of France.
Claude Monet himself miraculously became an artist. 7 curious facts about the impressionist artist will allow you to look at the artist's work from a different angle.
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