Monet a Giverny

Gardening has a French soul --at its best, it combines the artistic use of colors and textures with the terroir. And Claude Monet was a master gardener! Giverny was Monet's home for more than 40 years, and the gardens were the subject of many of his most famous paintings. We left the heat of Paris behind on Wednesday, and drove to Giverny --less than 40 miles from Paris-- to see the gardens in their full summer bloom (I would like to see them in every season, but we will need to come back during a spring again!).
Monet and his "families", his close family friend and patron, Alice Hoschede and her 6 children, moved into the house to take care of Monet and his young children (his first wife Camille died in 1879 when he was 39 years old). Alice and Monet were married in 1892 a year after the death of Alice's husband Ernest. ( Les familles recomposees are not a new French phenomenon and the tradition continues --the number of marriages is about half of what it was in 1950 for a population that is now 60 million as opposed to 40 million.)
The house is a rambling, old house to which Monet added his studios and kitchen in place of the old barns which were connected to the house. The dining room is painted in two tones of yellow and overlooks the terrace and the gardens. As they had a large family and many guests, the dining room table easily accommodates 15! The kitchen is tiled with blue and white patterned tiles and painted in shades of blue... his collection of copper pans is hung, "lovingly polished by the staff" as the guidebook explains! These are rooms of people who love to cook and eat --it's France and it's about the food! (The guidebook explains that Monet loved good food and wine and also had some of his own recipes.)


These views are of the front of the house. The flower gardens were established where there once was an orchard (the house had been named Le Pressoir --the Fruit Press House), and the main pathway to the house from the road below was an allee of cypress and spruce trees. Monet had the orchard and the trees removed, and he created a rambling, natural garden that is not in the French style of closely trimmed trees and shrubs and a precise pattern of planted flowers. He installed large arches as rose arbors to span this straight pathway where the cypress and spruce had been.


Although the pathways remain straight, they are bordered by plants like these nasturtiums (les capucines (f) en francais) which are climbers and wanderers and do not do straight lines! These summer gardens are a profusion of flowering annuals and perennials (although most of the perennials are spring flowering and thus, display foliage in August). There are also dahlias of many hues and sizes. The flowers include (a short list only!) cleomes, geraniums, zinnias, gladiolus (and they are NOT all orange!), cosmos, salvias of many colors, black-eyed susans, pinks, fuchsias, verbena, and on and on.....



And so you may ask....where are the waterlilies???
In 1893, Monet purchased the land across the street and rail road line from his house along a small tributary of the Epte River, the Ru. He had to go through the process of the then environmental permitting to change the course of the Ru and add dams to create the pond. All of this is his creation --the pond, the Japanese bridges, the plantings. He chose the bamboos, wisterias, aganapathes, marsh marigolds --and the waterlilies for their colors and textures. Structure is provided by the weeping willows, hydrangeas, azaleas and other shrubs and small flowering trees. This entire pond area looks natural, but as any gardeners know, there is ordered chaos here --all controlled with loppers and pruning shears! (Monet kept small boats tied up for both him and his gardeners for gazing --and grazing!)






It may be difficult to see in these small photos, but the floating waterlilies -les nympheas- lie flat and do not have a reflection --and as they float on the surface, they break up both the reflections and the texture and perception of depth on the surface of the pond. Quite amazing --but from the master of light, what less could be expected...
"Apart from painting and gardening, I'm not good at anything." Monet.

Giverny was opened by the Claude Monet Foundation in 1980 after being "refurbished". The estate was given to the Academy of Beaux Arts in 1966 after his son Michael was killed in a car accident. The house had not been maintained since 1947 when Monet's daughter-in-law Blanche (Alice's daughter who had married Monet's other son, John, who died in 1914) passed away. The paintings in the house were given to the Marmottan-Monet museum in Paris (a must see!)



The largest Les Nympheas went to the Orangerie in 1927 after his death. He was persuaded by his friend George Clemenceau to give eight of them to France (he had offered two as a gift to celebrate the end of WW I) to be installed in the oval shaped rooms specifically designed for them in the Orangerie --but he would not deliver them while he was alive!



The restoration (there were plants growing through the walls in the studios) was funded by various groups within France --the Institut de France, the region of Eure, and other French groups and individuals. There were many American benefactors as well, including the American Ambassador Walter Annenberg, who paid for the access to the waterlily pond under the road that separates the property.

On June 25, 2008, one group of four of Monet's large waterlilies paintings, Le Bassin aux Nympheas, sold for more that $80 million to an anonymous private collector. This same painting was purchased by the sellers for $320,000 in 1971. The previous highest price for a Monet was in April, 2008. The Railway Bridge at Argenteuil sold for more than $41 million to another anonymous buyer (reportedly the Nahmad family --look them up on the web-- it is another world). In 1868, Monet attempted suicide by throwing himself into the Seine, distraught over his financial situation. One has to wonder, would any of these buyers have supported him then? And do any of these buyers support young artists now? And for all this money, who gets to see these works? Not any grubby gardeners.

Encore Provence!

I once heard someone say that you make your own luck --and I took this comment to heart-- and I have become a believer. Our trip to Provence was spectacularly lucky!
As you may have surmised by seeing the pictures of the lavender (and believe me there are many, many more pictures!), that the main purpose of this vacances was to soak up the sensory delights of those lavender fields. The colors, the smell of the lavender, the buzzing of the bees in the otherwise silent fields, the softness of the lavender flowers and the lingering scent on my fingers, the intense blue skies (and yes, lavender reduces stress, anxiety, and promotes relaxation...) --and yet this region of Provence had much more to offer --the Gorges du Verdon, the hilltop town of Moustiers-Ste. Marie, Castellane, Lac St. Croix.... and when I planned the trip, I did not realize (or have any idea that the Gorges du Verdon were second only to the Grand Canyon in length!) how amazing this corner of Provence would be!
The town of Moustiers-Ste. Marie is nestled between two hilltops, and has winding little streets and bridges over the river that cascades from the limestone cliffs. What is most notable is a star, suspended from a chain (a mere 750 feet long) in between these two cliffs, and over the Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Beavoir. This chapel is above the town (and yes, also reached by a long winding set of stairs with the Stations of the Cross to contemplate as you catch your breath on the way up --or catch yourself on the way down as all those pilgrims have polished the stones of the steps and path smoother than beach pebbles!)


And the story... a knight, the Crusades, and the promise... and viola! The star!
During one one of the Crusades in the 13th century, a knight of the house/family of Blacas was captured by the Saracens. He made a vow to hang a star between the two cliffs over the village if he returned home. The legend continues that he hung a 16 point star, the symbol of his family. It has fallen and the chain has been replaced several times since, and the star that is hanging now bears the date and the initials of the person who replaced it last, J.Martin: J.M. 1882.
Many of these religious "installations",(oratoires en francais ) like the shrines that adorn many buildings and roadways throughout France and other parts of Europe are the result of vows and prayerful thanksgivings. And the belief of miracles has been the impetus for many pilgrimages. However, the Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Beauvoir was a pilgrimage site different from any I have seen...

The signs explain that the chapel was known since the 9th century when it was referred to as "Notre-Dame d'Entre-Roches (Notre Dame between the Rocks). The chapel was re-named in the 12th century, and became a pilgrimage site due to miracles attributed to the Virgin Mary. These beliefs were encouraged by the Church who gave --or more often sold-- indulgences to the pilgrims. However, in the 17th century, these pilgrimages became "une forme particuliere"... pilgrims would bring still-born children with the belief that they would be resuscitated for several seconds, and they could then be baptized. Being baptized meant that they could be buried in religious cemeteries, and their souls saved from spending eternity in Limbo... and all of us who went to Catholic school or catechism remember the sad pictures of Limbo with all these babies and little kids forever waiting...
Besides indulgences, Moustiers is also famous for its pottery --faience. The technique was brought from Faenza, Italy, by a monk who taught Pierre Clerissey of Moustiers in 1679 how to make these glazed ceramics. The traditional colors are blue on white and combine mythological and hunting scenes among others (some are quite fantastic in their subjects!). Hardly the daily dishes of the common folk, the production of this faience ended in the late 18th century (think Revolution 1789), and the tradition was revived in 1925 by Marcel Provence. Given the number of shops selling these pieces the revival was successful! However, they do have an Italian look about them... like pieces from Italy that were treasured by my grandmother.


Now on to deep thoughts--the Gorges du Verdon!
The river and its tributaries responsible for cutting these deep chasms through the limestone cliffs of Provence is the Verdon. These rivers begin in the Alps which are directly north and east of Provence --the Gorges are actually in the department named Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. Dams were built on the Verdon in the late 1960's and early 1970's creating a number of artificial --but beautiful-- lakes as well as producing hydro-power (the lakes were built by EDF --Electricite de France). (I have to date myself --I have a fairly good understading of the geography of Europe, and lakes are mostly in the mountains --Lake Geneva, Lake Como, Lake Garda, Lake Lucerne, etc. Lac St. Croix is a large lake, and it is in Provence which is rather dry. I was feeling a bit embarassed about not recalling a major geographical feature like this --and then I read that it was inauguruated in 1973...)



There are breath-taking drives along both sides of the Gorges and places to hike down to the canyon floor and the river (we did not have the chance to walk down those steps and I did not see the stations of the cross for resting places nor an ancenseur for the trip back up!)



We were so lucky --these ibexes were at the entrance to one of the tunnels and we were able to stop to see them!
There are two exceptional viewing routes --one on the rive droite-- the Routes des Cretes and one on the rive gauche, the Corniche Sublime. One of the most fascinating aspects of these gorges is the orientation of the rock --you can almost sense the pushing and upheaval during those millions of years ago by the dizzying angles of the cliffs and the faults... for safety reasons, I had to forgo taking some rather dramatic photos as the road was narrow and the shoulder was more suitable to flying!



In the photo below, you can see the path to the bottom of the canyon to the right --note car park...


Our trip back over a few days took us up through Grenoble and then west towards Lyon with a final stop in the Burgundy at Autun.

The 12th century sculptor, Gislebertus' capital showing Judas --in the Autun cathedral... more to come!