Even though married twice, there are rumors still floating around about his wives and family today. It seems his family disinherited him because of his relationship with his first wife, Camille. Then Alice and he lived together for years before they were married. Her first husband was a wealthy art patron, but lost his money. She decided to stay with her long time friend, Monet, instead of her husband and married the artist years later after her first husband died. I have heard that she was abandoned. Then another story is that she and Monet became close after her husbands financial problems and his move to Belgium for work. Interesting, but I don’t think we will ever know the truth.
What is does show is that Monet seemed to love chaos. That’s the way I see him. From his marriages to his garden to the way he decorated, it seems he loved life most when nothing seemed to be in order.
He landed in a small village in Normandy called Giverny. It’s tiny, but very picturesque. He loved the northern part of France because of the light there. I don’t know if you noticed the photos from my last post of the houses along the Seine River, but those photos aren’t retouched. The lighting is natural. There was a lot of gray in the sky that day and the river seemed to cast a vibrant green to the pictures. Here in the southern US, we tend to have cloudy days or bright, sunny days with lots of blue in the sky. We tend to say, “What a pretty day!” or “Nice day” and we all know what that means. There, the locals will talk about the pretty day and comment on the colors in the sky. They might say, “There is a lot of gray in the sky today” or “Did you noticed the marbled sky yesterday?”
One of the first things he dis was get permission to actually redirect the water flow so he could study the effects of lighting on the water! This sounds nice today, but his neighbors were farmers who depended on the water to grow crops! Then he starts planting plants that were not from that region. The people around him were worried about the water might become contaminated from the plants that were being imported from as far away as Asia, and they had less water!
The blue tiles are beautiful! But the painted furniture isn’t even the same shade of blue to me. This is jarring, but not really offensive. I actually really like it. The tiles, the beautiful range, the copper pots, the amazing kitchen fireplace, and that lovely ceiling lamp are sensational.
I found his home and gardens to be jarring, boldly colorful, enchanting, and completely wonderful! Even his chicken were frou-frou! I love that he found beauty in the chaos of life. So often I miss that and just want everything to be orderly and quiet. We can miss a lot of joy that way.
