ART OR REALITY - WHAT IMPRESSES YOU MORE?
Who hasn’t seen Monet’s dreamy renderings of a bridge over a water lily pond? After all, there are quite a few of those paintings, twelve finished ones in all. They have become world-famous and grace many a museum’s impressionist art sections. There is one in our very own Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Claude Monet (1840-1926) was a French painter of the impressionist school. Inspired by the natural beauty of northern France, he purchased a property in Giverny, with a pond, to enjoy it visually and to have it serve as “motifs” for his paintings.
Using his passion for horticulture, Monet transformed the pond into a water lily garden. The result was a series of works focusing on a bridge over the lily pond, sometimes also called the Japanese bridge due to its design.
The bridge and the pond still exist in Giverny, to which the photographs below attests. These shots was taken by my traveling friend Ellen, who has graciously permitted me to use them here.
Monet’s hazy-looking paintings made the pond immortal. It’s good to know we can still enjoy the impressionist’s inspiration in its natural, breathtaking beauty.
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