Monday, July 18, 2016

Giverny

A must-see site for any lover of art in general and impressionism in particular is Monet's garden in Giverny, a village just a half-hour drive from Louviers, where we have pitched our tent for these two weeks.  But first a little detour for a step somewhat farther back in history.

Even closer to Louviers is the town of Les Andelys, most famous for Chateau Gaillard.  One result of the conquest of England in 1066 (one of the most important dates in European history) is that a few years later, Richard Lion-Heart was simultaneously King of England and Duke of Normandy.  He built this castle, and it was almost immediately the focus of much attention by whatever kings ruled France and England at the moment, for about three hundred years, when it finally became permanently French.  It was built in a then-modern three-ring design, visible here.



You can see from its command of a bend in the Seine river its strategic value, leading to its frequent changing of hands for the first three hundred years of its life.



On to Giverny.  Monet lived in the house and cared for the gardens here from 1883 until his death in 1926.  It was the ideal place for his style, and the pond inspired his 250 or so paintings of water lilies.  The pond is the first focus in the tour of the grounds, and for good reason.  You can walk around it, sit in the shade and let it absorb you, photograph it, and sketch it.



Or photograph people photographing sketchers...


The water lilies are, of course, the centerpiece, but like framed art in a gallery, sometimes the frame grabs your attention for a while.


Moving on from the pond to the garden itself, if you like flowers or you like natural color, this is the place for you.  Here's an overview of the place:


But for me, it's all about the closeups.  Without further commercial interruption...






After the pond and the garden, you end the tour with the house (no photographs, again) and then you're back in the village of Giverny.  Just up the road from Giverny is Vernon, a thriving metropolis by comparison, straddling the Seine.  On the old bridge across the Seine sits the city's icon: the mill on the bridge.


Both the mill and the bridge have seen better days, but the mill has such a strong identification with Vernon that the city keeps it in presentable shape.  While we were there, a local artist was working on his version of it.  That's the way icons are, I suppose.

Tomorrow's post will be a mixed bag of little discoveries that didn't make the cut earlier; we're giving our feet a break, and enjoying our little town of Louviers.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.