A r t i s t s o f G i v e r n y
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Artists of Giverny
Claude Oscar Monet (1840 - 1926)The museum of Vernon is the only museum of the area exhibiting canvases by Monet, thanks to the generosity of the impressionist master and of his son. Claude Monet presented "Nympheas, 1908", a circular work that he painted in his garden in Giverny. This rond painting is a first attempt to give a shape to the idea that will later reach its peak in the "Grandes Decorations". In two oval rooms of the Orangerie museum in Paris, walls are covered by a representation of the waterlily pond, surrounding the viewer. Here, Monet focuses on the waterlilies on the pond, he treats the motive like a landscape. He tries to modify the usual references and landmarks to set the viewer in the middle of a closed space. Monet certainly painted the waterlilies from his boat in the middle of the pond, isolated in a circular space. The museum of Vernon exhibits also a "Effet de soleil couchant à Pourville" (the cliffs of Pourville at sunset). This picture was given in 1964 by Michel Monet to the museum in memory of his wife. This work is part of a 6 canvases series painted in February - March 1896. From a hut on the beach, Claude Monet produced views representing the cliffs at Varengeville west of Pourville. Monet had already stayed in Pourville in 1882, he would came back in 1897. |
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Blanche-Hoschedé Monet (1865-1947)Blanche is the step daughter of Claude Monet : she was the daughter of Alice Hoschedé, the second wife of Claude. Alice had six children from her first wedding with Ernest Hoschedé, among them was Blanche. Claude Monet was already father of Jean and Michel, born from his marriage with Camille Doncieux. Blanche was the only one who painted among the eight children. She followed Claude in the countryside and painted by his side, and he gave him advices. Monet didn't like her to fall in love with the American painter Breck, one of the founder of the colony of Giverny. He forced them to break off. Later, Blanche got married with Jean Monet, Claude's eldest son. Blanche painted mainly before she got married. Afterwards she was too occupied with the household, the gardens and Claude Monet's depression when Alice died in 1911. Jean Monet was carried off by an illness too early in 1914. Blanche would come back to painting at the end of her life. The museum of Vernon owns several of her paintings. "Monet's House" and "the Pond at Giverny" illustrate her first period, "the Cabbage" and "Norman Seashore" the second one. |
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Theodore Earl ButlerThis American painter belonged to the colony that settled down in Giverny at the end of the 19th Century. In 1893, he fell in love with Suzanne Hoschedé, step-daughter and favorite model of Monet. Claude was first strongly against their marriage, but he let himself be swayed. The wedding was celebrated in the town hall and the church of Giverny. Theodore E. Butler presented the museum of Vernon with "Landscape" featuring the river Epte in Giverny. One can also see a surprising "Sunset in Veules-les-Roses". |
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Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947)Pierre Bonnard is now recognized as a major painter, also he remained long in the shadow due to his taste for a discreet and quiet life. Pierre Bonnard lived in Vernon from 1912 through 1928, on the right bank of the Seine in the hamlet of "Ma Campagne". He was born in 1867 in Fontenay-aux-Roses, near Paris. Ha was frien dwith his neighbour Claude Monet, 27 years elder than him. B Pierre Bonnard discovered Vernonnet in 1912. He was used to paint in the Seine Valley. He decided to buy "Ma Roulotte" ( My Trailer), a small half timbered house with a wooden balcony and a wonderful view on the Seine River. He liked to row on the river with his companion Marthe. The Nabis painter didn't live all year round in Vernon but in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The house in Vernon didn't have much comfort. He used it as a part-time residency to work hard in the changing light. His work includes many landscapes of the Seine river. His outstanding framings made from the dining-room window of "Ma Roulotte" are now famous. In the museum of Vernon, you will see : - "Vallée de la Seine à Rolleboise", on oil on canvas painted around 1900 and kept by the artist his life long as a testimony of his work , - "Vue du balcon sur la Seine, 1911", a study for a painting that is now in the museum of Nice. - "Femme au Tub, debout". A drawing (ca.1920) characteristical for his numerous studies of bathing women. |
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Edouard Vuillard (1868 - 1940)He formed the Nabis trio along with Pierre Bonnard and Maurice Denis. The museum of Vernon owns a "Coin de Parc".
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Maurice Denis (1870 - 1943)"Enfants dans le bois à Silencio" features the children of Maurice Denis, in his garden in Brittany. The museum of Vernon owns also "Prise de Voile" where Maurice Denis mixes his conceptions of painting and religion.
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Frederick MacMonnies and Mary Fairschild MacMonniesThis couple of American artists lived in Giverny for thirty years, from 1890 through 1920. They both studied in Paris and invited many friends to spend the Summer in Giverny. Mary Fairschild, (1858 - 1946) famous painter, was considered the leader of the American colony of Giverny. She gave an outstanding work to the museum of Vernon, the large "coin de parc par temps de neige", depicting her own snowy garden in Giverny. Her two girls, Betty and Marjorie, are sketched in "Le Jardin de Giverny" and in a small study on wood "Marthe Lucas". Frederick MacMonnies (1863-1937) devoted himself to sculpture when in France. His "Tamed horses", in the yard of the museum, are reductions for two groups now placed in the Brooklyn Park, New-York. The marble "Bacchante"is an unfinished version of "la Bacchante et faune enfant". |
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The landscape paintersBeside Giverny artists, the museum of Vernon exhibits many works by landscape painters such as Rosa Bonheur, K. Daubigny, Prieur, Dainville, Lacoste, Cazin, Goeneutte, Bastien-Lepage, Vallotton... |
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