Monet's Garden - Giverny

In July, I was privileged enough to get the opportunity to visit Monet's house and gardens in Giverny. Artistically, it was a dream, not only due to the wonderful history surrounding it, but also the sheer beauty which immensely lived up to the paintings I had previously seen. The gardens themselves were intricately designed to give life and colour everywhere you looked, from the renown waterlilies pond, to patches of wildflowers situated underneath drooping willow trees. Everywhere was a masterpiece in waiting, and it was obvious why Monet's own are so celebrated.

The most mind-blowing part about this visit was seeing the bridge featured in one of the most recognisable paintings in all of art history. It was just as serene as the impressionistic world Monet created, it was even obvious of the light patterns he captured due to the dappling effect caused by countless leaves and petals. Studying this myself, and producing my own Monet-inspired paintings was surreal and created a connection between myself and this culturally rich setting.

Additionally to the gardens, I was also able to take a tour around Monet's own delightful home, which was exactly how I imagined a great artist's house would be. Each room was adorned in trinkets and colour-coordinating decorations, with grand mirrors juxtaposing quaint stairwells. Here, some of Monet's own art work and pieces from his personal collection were displayed, making the whole atmosphere burst with creativity and a passion for art.

Overall, the entire experience sparked a real adoration for the whole impressionist movement, leading me to create a series of watercolour paintings which were influenced by the main features of it; the dab-like paint strokes, the focus on light and creating ambience, painting in the setting its self rather than in a studio. Moreover, this also lead to me investigating the history of the movement, in my art history academic poster. This further research allowed me to truly respect and deeply understand Monet, and other impressionist painters, such as Renoir, Degas and Cezanne, both as people with values and ideas, but also as artistic icons.