The gardeners

Monet, Garden in Giverny, 1900

That impressionists loved to paint gardens and flowers, we know it well. That Monet had his Giverny, his bridge and his waterlilies, we know it too. But it was not only Monet who was devoted to growing flowers…

Manet, The Monet family in their Garden at Argenteuil, 1874

The impressionists are the first ones painting outdoors. This was impossible in the past, since colors were formerly created through pigments in powder. Since 1841, colors started coming in paint tubes and therefore there was nothing stopping them from sticking their easel in middle of nature. And why not building a micro-world in harmony with their tastes, their own Garden of Eden? An artist’s garden: a garden in which there is a human hand that is creating scenarios consciously as future motives to paint. To a painter, an own garden is an extension of their own creativity. Think, for example, of Sorolla’s gardens... (Of this facet of Sorolla we will talk in the future) There is also a need to escape from the growing industrialization of Paris, a return to Nature (and in this sense, they are in debt with the romantics and the ideas of Rousseau).

Manet, Two peonies and scissors, 1864

It was a time in which, due to Japan trading with other countries again after several centuries, new Asiatic species of flowers reached Europe, such as chrysanthemums, gladioli, rhododendrons, agapanthus, lilies, hydrangeas or primroses. Also some experiments with cross-breeding were carried out, especially with roses. A passion for gardening rose: many specialized magazines appeared, like Flore des Serres et Jardins de l’Europe, of which, for example, Monet kept all issues; greenhouses became trendy to grow orchids. Societies of aficionados were founded, such as the Société Centrale d’Horticulture, in which Caillebotte took part. Manet would spend time with his peonies, while Pissarro would reclaim the vegetable gardens…

Caillebotte, The gardeners, 1875
(Image: Wikipedia)

To Monet and Caillebotte, this was more than a hobby: they shared experiences, visited together Exhibitions of Horticulture. Monet had gardens in Vétheuil, Argenteuil and in Giverny. Caillebotte was fan of dahlias, but he was looking for a bothanic experimentation more than an artistic one (although that doesn’t mean he wasted his chance to paint them). He placed the plants in lines, but he did not finish his design because he died a few years later.

Monet, Gladioli, 1876

Instead, Monet supervised every corner, every effect, every shadow and every color harmony. He distributed all the flowers depending on height and blooming; he plants fruit trees, climbing roses, hanging wisterias, lilies, sunflowers, hyacinths, dahlias, anemones… He had to start over twice, since floods destroyed his work, but this led him to try new designs for the paths in his garden. For maintenance he hired 7 gardeners, but he controlled everything, even if he was abroad. In his letters, for example, he orders to Vilmorin (enterprise that still exists) flower seeds but also vegetable seeds. We can also see the list of fertilizers he needs: iron sulfate, superphosphate, potassium sulfate…

Monet, The waterlily pond, 1899

In 1893, he buys an adjacent terrain to build his pond for his water lilies. He gets to buy it after rough negotiations with the prefect: the neighbors were opposed to the purchase because they’d claim those exotic species would pollute the water. In the end, he could build his famous pond and its bridge, in the Japanese way. Giverny was his own world, a laboratory of impressions to paint: in the city he would get shy and bad mooded, so he stopped going to Paris. He would receive everybody there and share with them his garden.

Caillebotte, White and yellow
chrysantemums, 1893

Monet, Chrysantemums, 1897

Caillebotte bought Monet’s painting of chrysantemums and gifted him his in return. Monet did not paint them again until long after his friend’s death, as a sign of respect to whom he had shared his greatest passion with: being a gardener.

Sources: Monet, C. Los años de Giverny. Madrid, Turner, 2010

Todd, P. The impressionists at Home. London, Thames & Hudson, 2005

Willsdon, C.A. In the Gardens of Impressionism. London, Thames & Hudson, 2004

 Fondation Monet at Giverny

Caillebotte's House at Yerres

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