How Monet made an impression

Take inspiration from painter Claude Monet and fill your garden with harmonious colour

For many years, I had longed to visit the garden of artist Claude Monet - Giverny, situated 70 kilometres south of Paris in an idyllic and beautiful part of the French countryside. Of course, I had known Monet’s work as a painter and had seen his magical paintings in the great galleries of Europe.

A close look at his impressionistic masterpieces reveals that Monet was not just a passionate painter but a passionate gardener, too. Taking a glimpse into the artist’s world you can almost smell the flowers and feel the colour oozing from the paint.

Monet was fortunate to be recognised in his lifetime, which assisted him in funding and caring for his garden. He employed a total of five gardeners to care for the grounds in Giverny. He planted with the skill of his artistic eye. Within his garden he blended

and harmonised colours, created bold contrasts, and exploited the world of floral colour to its limits. Monet was to say of himself that "gardening and painting apart, I am totally useless".

Monet used flowers in the same way he applied paint to canvas - large bold sweeps of colour. This struck me on my first visit and I took the advice of an artist friend who told me to look at the garden through gently squinted eyes. This way, the colours seemed to merge and began to resemble his paintings. Monet suffered from cataracts in later life and the bold colours that he used in his planting schemes blended to create a soft and integrated effect.

After his death on December 5, 1926, the property and garden were left to his family and they slowly fell into disrepair. His youngest son, Michel, left the property to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1966. In 1980, after several years of careful restoration, Monet’s garden was opened to the public

under the care of the newly formed Claude Monet Foundation. A faithful and exact recreation of the garden is to be seen today. Monet once told friends "my garden is my most beautiful chef-d’oeuvre". He used the gardens as a studio and it was, in its own way, a work of art.

As a visitor, you will be struck by the narrow paths, which were never designed to accommodate crowds of people - more than half a million visit the garden within its annual seven-month opening. Each Monday the garden is closed to the public, with access only granted to artists who have pre-arranged to spend the day painting it.

Today, Monet’s garden is divided in two by the main road. The first part he developed was close to the house. He set this out in typical French style, known as "Clos Normand". This allowed for rows of long flowerbeds, many of which are connected by arches and arbours of climbing plants. There is a long central alley leading from the road up to the house. This is a recognisable feature of the garden and is covered with many arches and arbours festooned with climbing roses.

Nasturtiums are allowed to ramble freely and spread almost to cover the gravel. From late summer into autumn they look stunning, a loved feature of the garden that Monet immortalised in many of his paintings.

I have been fortunate to have visited Monet’s garden many times and during different seasons. This has allowed me to see the true brilliance of his plantings in context over a year. One of the most memorable visits was in late May, when I arrived to discover every Iris at its peak of perfection. The effect was overwhelming as thousands of Irises in shades of blue, mauve, soft pink and pastel tones gently fluttered like flags in the breeze. One of the great beauties of this flower garden is that, no matter when you visit, there are always colourful delights. As one display fades, another is emerging. And so, as Irises come to an end, peonies in every shade of pink come into full bloom, followed by roses, bedding displays and, in autumn, amazing drifts of purple, mauve, and blue asters.

In contrast to the Clos Normand, in 1893 Monet purchased some land on the opposite side of the main road and set about creating his famous water garden. One of the symbols of Monet’s garden is the Oriental bridge he had local craftsmen make to stretch over one of his lily ponds. This was recreated in the restoration but the climbing wisterias are the original plantings. In the water garden, the mood is different - more tranquil. The ponds catch colourful reflections at every turn and the water lilies sit like floating jewels on the shimmering water surface. Monet’s love of oriental art and his prized collection of Japanese prints were to greatly influence his design in the water gardens. Large plantings of bamboos and Japanese maples, weeping willows and tree peonies give the place an eastern feel.

When visiting such a magnificent garden I always find myself asking the question: "What can I learn from this experience and what ideas can I take home?" From Monet’s garden in Giverny, there were many answers. Primarily that I could now look at colour and not to be afraid to experiment with harmonising and contrasting and using bold displays. His water garden has taught me to look at mood, reflection and how light affects our perception of plants. Each garden portrays its own message and the genius of this garden comes from its creator who was a master artist and master gardener.

Dermot O'Neill regularly leads tours to the Gardens of Paris and Giverny as well as several other destinations. Details of upcoming tours can be found on the 'Garden Tours' page.