Claude Monet: Waterlilies and the Garden of Giverny

by Julian Beecroft

A gorgeous new edition with the cover printed on silver. Towards the end of his life and much inspired by Japanese water gardens, Monet spent a great deal of time in his beloved Giverny. Adorned with poppies, blue sage, dahlias and irises, the waters were disturbed only by bamboos and water lilies. His water garden was originally created to satisfy a need to be near water, and to provide a visual feast that could be enjoyed from his house. The pond was fed by the river Ru, and weeping willow and silver birch hung over its edges, caressing the fronds of the greenery and blossoms below. Its famous green wooden footbridge was built across the water and it became the central focus of many of his works. He said, 'It took me some time to understand my water lilies. I planted them for pleasure.' and so he began to work on what is probably the most famous series of paintings the world has ever seen.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Coffee Table Books

192 pages, Hardcover

First published August 17, 2015

Reviews

[Florin Pitea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well documented. Nicely written. Beautifully illustrated. Impeccably printed and bound. Highly recommended. Review available here: http://tesatorul.blogspot.ro/2017/09/...

[Kathleen Messmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life as an artist is tough, even now. Imagine what it was like for Monet in his time. I have nothing but respect and admiration for his tenacity and verve and his ability to challenge what he thought was right. Wonderful book.

[TS · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just want to step into the book. Relaxing and inspiring. Just the print is way too small to read. I’m getting old. Lol

[Melisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really wish that when the author mentioned a specific painting or photograph it would also be shown on the page...

[Kaitlyn Robison]

Monet being an ophthalmic patient and having cataract surgery truly makes me love his art even more 🤪

[Zach Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

His paintings were kind of boring in my opinion like don't get me wrong I'll never be as good as him and his workset should be admired but better than Van Gogh? I don't know about that. So the paintings weren't too pretty, but what about his life? That's like 75% of these books. His life was all right, kind of interesting at the beginning and the end. It feels wrong to rate someone's life for entertainment, but the author could have just focused on the paintings instead then.

But Monet also inspired me to start gardening and make money from it so I guess I should thank him for drawing pretty garden pictures.

[Pooja Thantry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my most prized possession! It is Impeccably bound and illustrated. I am at loss of words as this book has made me feel like a small girl who loves her book of colorful pictures. Every morning as soon as I get up I go through it looking at the big pictures of the paintings again and again. I also got big books of great artists Leonardo and Michelangelo at the same time but this is all the reading I’ve done. I'm smitten by Monet and his pond of water lilies 😍!

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nicely written, I think it's fair to say that the author may be a fan of Monet and it shows, it was very concise and easy to read, but very informative and it added a little bit of emotion at certain times where it was due. Beautifully illustrated as well, highly recommended if you want to start learning about this extremely talented artist.