Monet and Van Gogh

Today was a fantastic, long, tiring, and beautiful day. We went on a day trip for 8 hours from the morning to early evening to Giverny and Auvers, north of Paris. In Giverny, we visited Monet's last home, and the site of his famous Japanese and European gardens. Our Art History professor led the way and showed us the actual inspiration for the impressionist paintings we have been studying in class.

We first wandered through Monet's Japanese garden, which was where he painted his series of hundreds of water-lily paintings, and well-known paintings of the Japanese bridge over his pond. He directed a small stream off the Seine into a man-made pond, and spent months cultivating flowers, trees, and water lilies in the garden there. Now, the pond has enlarged since Monet painted in the garden, but the effect is still breathtaking. The plants and flowers were in full bloom, as it is the height of Spring, and the tricks that the light plays on the water are incredible. We walked all the way around the pond and over the bridge, and I took so many amazing pictures. It was a fairly cloudy day, but at one point, as the sun broke through the clouds and lit up the pond, there was a huge GASP from the crowd (it was a particularly crowded day)...the sunlight reflected off the water and was absolutely breathtaking!

The European garden is equally impressive. Our teacher told us that since there are several gardeners now, versus just Claude, there have been several more flowers planted than there were in Monet's time. They spill over the walkways and explode in hundreds of colors...it is so beautiful. The house, with its green shutters, is a quintessential pictureseque French country home. Most of the rooms inside are painted a cool blue, but the dining room is bright yellow, and so cheerful. The entire house is filled with Japanese blue and white pottery, and reproductions of prints, all pieces of art that inspired Monet when he painted.

The gift shop is actually interesting as well, because it is the special studio Monet built to create his huge murals of water lilies for the Orangerie, in the Tuileries garden in Paris. We saw the murals a couple of weeks ago on a museum visit (there are 8 in total), and they are exquisite. I never quite understood the draw to these paintings before coming to France, but when you see them in person, they are the most soothing and colorful pieces of art you can imagine. Additionally, being at Monet's home and looking at the Seine helps one to imagine what he saw, and the light that he was inspired by. It was a fantastic visit, and I bought a small reproduction of one of my favorite paintings of his -- The Hotel des Roches Noires, in Trouville, where he went on his honeymoon with the famous Camille.

After our visit, we picked up lunch for the group at a boulangerie in a town nearby, and stopped at a lovely lady's home (a friend of our professor), where we ate in her beautiful garden. She is British, but has lived in this old country house for 30 years, and the house itself dates back to the 19th century. Its layout is very interesting, and she has left all the timbered ceilings, different stone and brick on the floors, and whitewashed walls intact. The garden has a wild-looking lawn and beautiful trees, and after lunch, she made us all cafes! It was a lovely place to stop for a meal, and so sweet of her to welcome 30 of us into her home!

We stopped in Auvers after lunch, the last town that Vincent Van Gogh lived in before he killed himself. All over the town are framed reproductions of his paintings in front of the actual site that he painted, and it was so neat to see the aspects of the land that inspired his wild and turbulent style. The church in Auvers was covered in scaffolding, but the slightly tilted roof was visible, which is highlighted in Van Gogh's famous painting of it (which we saw last week at Musee d'Orsay). Up on the hill of the village is a large plateau, covered in wheat fields, where the sky seems to touch the horizon. It was ominous and a little gloomy, but very magnificent. Also on the plateau is a cemetary, where we saw the gravestones of both Van Gogh and his brother Theo, who is buried alonside Vincent.

As we were getting back on the bus, it started to pour...we were so lucky to have a rainless day up until that point to see so much beauty and inspiration for impressionism!

As usual, lots of pictures to the right, I took about 150 and had the HARDEST time deciding which ones to put up, so I posted the pictures that capture the broadest ideas. But really incredible shots in my albums as well!!