Monet's Passion: Ideas, Inspiration, and Insights from the Painter's Gardens
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,History & Criticism
Monet's Passion: Ideas, Inspiration, and Insights from the Painter's Gardens Details
Review “Elizabeth Murray provides . . . the kind of in-depth look that only someone who has worked in Monet's gardens and visits them annually can provide . . . For those who love Monet's gardens and would like to have gardens like them, Murray explains how you might recreate some small part of these fabulous gardens in your own garden.” --—May Dreams Gardensblog“This is a beautiful book, attractively designed and filled with lush photographs by the author, line drawings, maps and tips for creating your own Monet-inspired garden.” --—Dirt Therapy blog“Using Monet's gardens in Giverny, color palettes, and painterly tools as backdrop, Murray gives us insight into the Impressionists and their use of light and color as well as Mother Nature herself. We learn how Monet carefully chose seeds and planted his gardens for the color and light they would provide and how he would transpose that into his paintings...The book acts as both an introduction to Monet—who he was, how he came to painting and gardening—and a garden planner for the rest of us. Along with beautifully sumptuous photographs of the gardens today, Monet's Passion also includes sketches, overlays, and plans for how to recreate the gardens at Giverny even if it's in pots on your deck.” --—LibraryThing Early Reviewers Read more From the Inside Flap In celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the first publication of Monet's Passion: Ideas, Inspiration, and Insights from the Painter's Gardens, this completely revised edition of Elizabeth Murray's best-selling book offers new text, new images, and new garden plans based on Claude Monet's spectacular gardens at Giverny. A professional gardener and artist, Murray helped to restore the Giverny gardens in the 1980s and has since enjoyed privileged access to the site, where she returns annually to capture Monet's passion at its most radiant and riotous. In this redesigned, updated edition, Murray discusses the development and history of Monet's Giverny estate and brings new insight to Monet s approach to gardening and design. Emphasizing his keen understanding of color balance and his genius for maximizing the effects of light, Murray explores the favorite color combinations and techniques with which Monet experimented in both painting and gardening--each pursuit informing the other. Murray's lush photographs chronicle the present-day gardens, and a section titled 'Bringing Giverny Home' provides detailed Giverny-based garden plans that can be applied anywhere. Full-color illustrations of the gardens, a list of the plants originally used by Monet, and a plant cultivation section round out this immensely helpful guide to creating year-round beauty in one's own backyard. Read more About the Author Author, photographer, painter, and garden designer Elizabeth Murray assisted in the restoration of Claude Monet's gardens in Giverny, France, and has been photographing them annually for more than twenty-five years. Her work is housed in several museums and private collections, including the De Young Museum of San Francisco and the New Orleans Museum of Art. Murray is the author of numerous gardening and art books, including Painterly Photography: Awakening the Artist Within and Cultivating Sacred Space: Gardening for the Soul. She resides in Monterey, California, where she designs gardens as healing spaces and teaches creativity classes using photography, painting, and flowers. Read more
Reviews
Beautiful book - if you've visited Monet's gardens at Giverny, this book is a perfect companion and keepsake of the trip. If you want to understand Monet better, this book is indespensible. It filled in so many gaps in Monet's story for me, and I understand his art even better.
