Artistic Adventures
Stepping into the Paintings of Claude Monet
On Honeymoon #2, we traveled by train (and by foot) to Giverny
Like London, when one gets tired of Paris, one gets tired of life.
I’m lifting that from the scion of British Literature — Dr. Johnson. Would Johnson approve of the comparison — with that whole Norman Invasion thing in 1066?
For two weeks, my wife Mary Jane and I had been enjoying our “Hemingway Tour.” We spent days glorieux in Paris. On the Left Bank, she cried when exiting the Metro at Rue Saint-Michel. Was she really here? Were these the sights and sounds and smells of the language she had studied in school?
After Paris, we traveled to Spain by train and through Spain — in the footsteps (very big boots) of Ernesto Hemingway and his roman a clef, The Sun Also Rises.
As in Rome, all roads seem to lead back to Paris — our ‘moveable feast,’ like that famous, ludicrous roundabout intersection at the Arc of Triumph.
From Paris, there are so many day trips. Fresh air. Blue skies. Flowers. Old towns and villages. And just why didn’t we get to Rouen and Chartres and the beaches of Normandy?
Well — another visit, soon.
Earlier, we had enjoyed a day trip to Versailles. On this leg, what did Mary Jane want to see? So many options? While we disagree on Impressionism (I’m a huge fan, and she likes realism — and she jokes that the painters needed glasses due to “fuzziness,” we agreed on a pleasant journey to Giverny Gardens. It would be a fine outing — including a packed lunch on the banks of the Seine — just north of Paris as we headed into Normandy.
With our packed, “French” lunch, we cuddled together on a grassy slope. That would have indeed made for a fine painting by Renoir, Monet, Manet, Pissarro, Degas — or Mary Cassatt. I raced Mary Jane much too quickly through the Louvre — and then spent more time at the d’Orsay.
How many times has she reminded me of this? Using an app, I created my own Impressionist painting: Jeune femme rive de la Seine.
I have no talent discernible in this discipline whatsoever. I never had a course in Art. All of my knowledge of Art has come through books and visits and lectured tours of some of the finest art museums of the world — The Uffizi in Florence, the Met in New York, The Louvre and d’Orsay in Paris, The Museum of Fine Art in Boston, The National Gallery in Washington, The Tate and National Gallery in London, the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA, and of course, locally, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Barnes, the Rodin Museum, and the Wyeths at the Brandywine River Museum of Art in lovely Chadds Ford, PA.
One does not need to pay high tuition for a fine education. Okay, “Poser Professor” Bowne, wasn’t this a travel narrative?
We boarded the SNCF at Gare Saint-Lazare in Paris for the village of Vernon. It’s a pleasant forty-five-minute ride. Right now, in dollars, a one-way ticket is just over $10.
The town of Vernon is pleasant, with the Musée Alphonse-Georges-Poulain, and a temporarily closed Chateau de Bizy. There is also the Old Mill at Vernon. The Fondation Monet in Giverny is south of the town — which, I didn’t know, in the life before Google Maps and Smartphones — just how far south.
On a map, it looked so close!
Giverny — Monet’s home — is actually 7.1 kilometers away. And the walk, while mostly flat, and through gentle fields and villages — will take almost an hour and a half.
This may sound fine for going — but coming back, my wife was sore — and so were the blisters on her feet. Those blisters were no bargain. Bonehead “bon marché” Bowne preferred not to take the bus to the gardens. Did I still think I was single? The Man in Charge? Still penniless?
“It’s such a lovely day,” I said. “And the swiftest traveler is one who goes by foot.”
But Thoreau was wrong. And guess what? He wasn’t married either — unless you call an Ego a Partner. And he was a squatter! Mais je l’adore toujours!
Monet’s garden has been declared the most popular garden in France:
“500,000 people visit every year. Monet painted some of his most famous paintings whilst living at Giverny. These included his water lily and Japanese bridge paintings. Monet lived in Giverny from 1883 until his death in 1926” (French Gardens).
Claude Monet created the “Impressionist School.” With the many books I have read, I learned that these “renegade” painters were not welcome in the famous and snobby French National exhibits — and so they did what creative people should do who are about to change the world: create their own “gala” and “exhibit.”
Monet lived in Giverny for 43 years. His home provided the material for so much of his art. (link).
How much did the visit to Monet’s House and Gardens influence my soon-to-be mania for my own garden? Quite a bit. When our first daughter Madeline, named after that fictional and precocious and precious French schoolgirl, was born, I started my garden. Then, I was horrible — much like the frantic way I traveled — but now, I am — well — pretty, pretty, pretty good. But I still can’t draw worth a crap.
One drawback in 1996: The museum that Mary Jane really wanted to visit was the Centre Pompidou, which was under reconstruction.
Monet’s garden has two parts — the flower garden in front of the house, and the popular water garden on land adjacent that he purchased ten years after moving to his home studio.
The estate covers a hectare — about 100 acres. The gardens, designed in borders in a variety of colors and bloom times, inspired my own love of borders, playing with lilies, roses, irises, indigo, peonies, daisies, daffodils, and tulips. In any garden we visit, I take notes. Snap pictures — and then, strategize about an addition to the “shade” garden, or water feature to the “azalea” garden in our yard in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
Gardening can be addictive. Like travel. And kissing your Muse.
For some reason, the gardens were not crowded. We saw the famous water lilies, which I now have in my own “smaller” ponds at home in New Jersey, as well as Monet’s famous Japanese bridge, which is now a replica.
There is a delightful place in Ewing, New Jersey called Grounds for Sculpture. If ever in Central Jersey, it’s worth a trip. They have recreated Monet’s famous bridge there — as well as many other Impressionist paintings — as if you’re actually getting into the Boating Party by Renoir on the river — sharing wine with Mrs. Renoir.
Visiting the writing dens of famous writers is a blast — Twain in Elmira, New York; Emerson’s desk at Concord, Melville’s study in Arrowhead, New York, but a writer uses simple pen and paper. A studio of a painter is much larger — needing more materials and light.
Like the colors in his garden, Monet chose the colors in his house, which at one point had been a cider press. Did Mrs. Monet — Alice — have anything to say about his color choices at Home Depot?
For instance, one room, my favorite, is the “Blue Room.” The dining room is yellow.
“The barn next to the house became his first studio, thanks to the addition of a wooden floor and of stairs leading to the main house. Monet, who mostly painted in the open air, needed a place where to store and finish his canvases.
Above the studio, Monet had his own apartment, a large bedroom and a bathroom. The left side of the house was his side, where he could work and sleep” (link).
Yes — as a writer, I have this wide window overlooking skeleton trees and a smattering of beech trees with gold-colored leaves — refusing to fall down. A writer’s space is within. There is no need to hang this essay to dry.
When visiting Paris — yes — see Versailles, if you must, I guess. I’ve been the unofficial “tour guide” four different times with four different “visitors.” The grounds are splendid. But seek out the out-of-the-way places — not that Monet is a well-kept secret.
After being closed, Les Jardins de Monet à Giverny is now open. Advance ticket sales are encouraged.
“Monet’s gardens will welcome visitors every day including public holidays from 9.30 am to 6 pm -last admission 5:30 pm- from April 1st through November 1st, 2022.”
Here are the fares:
- Normal fare and seniors: 13.00 euros
- Children and students: 8.50 euros
- Disabled: 7.50 euros
- Children under 7: free of charge
Happy travels, my friends!
