This
is the gentle world of
'Waterlilies'
by Monet
'Nympheas'
1914 - 17
'Nympheas'
1916
"There was a stream,
the Epte, which came down from Gisors on
the boundary of my
property. I opened up a ditch so that I could
fill the little pond
that I had dug in my garden. I love water but I
also love flowers.
That's why, when the pond was filled, I wished to
decorate it with plants.
I took a catalogue and made a choice
any old how. That's
all..." Claude Monet.
Luckily
for the world, the plants chosen from his catalogue
were
waterlilies - or, in French, 'nympheas', and his many studies
of
these lovely flowers began.
Monet
was born in Paris on November 14th. 1840. In 1874
he exhibited "Impression, sunrise" at the first Impressionist exhibition.
He
and his family moved to a number of different regions of France in his
first
40 years, but not long after the death of his wife Camille in 1879,
Monet
moved to Giverny, the site of the future waterlily pond, where he was
to
stay for 43 years. Some of his greatest works were done in Giverny,
many
are views of the river Epte and his beloved garden.
Monet
died of lung cancer on the 5th. December, 1926.
Like
to see more of Monet's work?
The
excellent Giverny
Pages have many of his
paintings,
and show you around the soft, gentle
country
that inspired many early Impressionist
works
by the painter who has become known as
'The
Father of Impressionism'.
  
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