1995 was a pretty big year. It was the year I graduated from high school. It was the year of the Oklahoma City bombing. Michael Jordan returned to the NBA, and Whitney Houston, Weezer, and Garth Brooks were HUGE in the music scene. 1995 was also when the movie Clueless came out. Clueless is about a shallow rich girl named Cher who lives in Beverly Hills. She has an awesome closet, her step-brother is Paul Rudd, she likes to give a good makeover  and help others find love. It’s sort-of a modern 1990s version of Emma (go to IMDB for the full synopsis and trailer and other stuff about the movie).

Anyway, in the movie Clueless, there’s one point where Cher is talking about a girl being “so Monet”. When asked to explain, Cher said “she looks good from far away, but up close - she’s a mess”.  Today we call that a Snapchat filter (which I’m not opposed to using when I’ve not showered for a couple of days). But that movie is probably the first time I really HEARD the name Monet. Then I put it out of my head again until I came face-to-face with my first Monet.

The year was 1996 and the Olympics were right down the road in Atlanta. The High Museum of Art had an exhibit called Rings: Five Passions in World Art to coincide with the games which celebrated five universal human emotions: love, anguish, awe, triumph, and joy. I don’t remember if I went with a group from college or if I just went, but I do remember that as being the first time I was really in the presence of some of the great artistic masters. Monet included.  Here’s a NY Times article about the exhibit.

Then several years later I was re-introduced to Monet in my first art history class. It was a semester-long overview of the history of art from prehistoric times through the late twentieth century. We learned about many MANY of the great masters, but did a deep-dive on a few of the more prolific. 

Several other instances brought me face-to-face with Monet too. I was in Chicago on a business trip probably 10+ years ago now and I took an afternoon to tour the Art Institute of Chicago. Steve and I went to New York for my 40th birthday a few years ago and spent 7 (SEVEN) hours in the MET. They have one of his HUGE room-sized water lily studies.

More recently (like within the last few weeks), Steve and I found ourselves in Washington D.C. for the week and I visited the Smithsonian National Gallery of Art one afternoon. They have several Monet paintings…

He’s just such a fascinating person and lived in a time of enlightenment. He (along with several of his colleagues) started an entire artistic movement. Everybody has struggles, but his life seems almost ideal.

If you have time, watch this beautiful video (below) of an artist painting in Monet’s style (in Monet’s garden):

Oscar-Claude Monet lived from 1840 thru 1926 and was a French painter who founded the Impressionist movement. At the time, the traditional approach to landscape painting was to copy the works and style of the old masters, but Monet rejected this notion... choosing instead to paint looking out a window at what he observed from nature. Monet also loved to paint “en plein air” (outdoors). Later in life, he moved his family to a home in Giverny France and began working the land and painting in his gardens. He spent the majority of his time painting outdoors and created entire series of impressionistic landscapes that he is most known for today. 

Here are some really cool photographs of Claude Monet.

Go here to see his complete works.

The book, Everyday Monet: A Giverny-Inspired Gardening and Lifestyle Guide to Living Your Best Impressionist Life has been in my Amazon wish list for quite a while, but this year my Mother-in-law gave it to me for Christmas. It is just as magical as I could’ve imagined. Not only does the book include many of his beautiful masterpieces, but it also has recipes, flower arranging techniques, photos of Giverny’s different growing seasons, and how Monet preferred to set up his painting palette. Everyday Monet has TONS of “Monet-inspired” ideas for your garden, your kitchen, entertaining… your life! The more I read - the more I realize Monet was creating a sustainable life. He really had everything he needed at his fingertips. 

Before Covid-19 (I feel like EVERYTHING is going to be separated into 2 categories now:  before covid-19 and after covid-19. Ok, moving on now… ) The Museum of Fine Arts Boston has a Monet exhibit going up in April that lasts through August of this year. They have a HUGE collection of Monet paintings and are going to display all 35 of them in one exhibit. Usually these pieces rotate on/off display and we’re going to get to see them ALL displayed together for the first time in 25 years.

I’m not sure what’s going to happen to this exhibit (or the state of our country) going forward, but it is something that I would LOVE to see (whenever it actually goes up). A trip to Boston the summer before my oldest daughter goes to college probably isn’t a smart thing to try, but this year might just be the year to go. Our spring break is going to be cancelled.  Her summer cruise is going to be cancelled. Graduation MIGHT be cancelled. And flights/hotels are going to be EXTREMELY reasonable! Maybe I can talk her into going to Boston with me to see this exhibit. Yeah, probably not. Who am I kidding? She’s much rather go to the beach than Boston. AND I’m sure our money is going to be needed elsewhere. I guess my travel-aspirations will have to sit on the back burner for a while.

But since we’re talking about TRAVEL, it’s…

BUCKET LIST TIME!

At the top of my bucket list is a trip to Giverny, France. I’d love nothing more than to tour Monet’s home and garden and stand where he stood. Look at the water lilies he so often painted. Walk through his gardens of roses and across the bridge over his pond. 

And while I’m there, I want to sit in a little cafe wearing a striped shirt and a red beret and drink some lovely local wine and eat a fresh baked baguette (yes, the whole thing).

Not far from Monet’s home is the Palace of Versailles, Paris, and the Auvers sur Oise (the town where Van Gogh lived and died). Those are all MUST-SEE destinations too. I’m SURE all of these are extremely touristy, but maybe a small-ish bus tour like this one would be my best bet.

Looks like I can only choose Giverny + Versailles or Giverny + Auvers sue Oise. Maybe we could just rent a car and spend a few days roaming the countryside. We can book a guided tour of Giverny and stay in a B&B.

I bet they’ll have wine and fresh baked bread… 

To learn more about Giverny, Monet, and his artwork, go check out these sites.

The Claude Monet Foundation: https://fondation-monet.com/en/

Take a virtual tour of Monet’s home and pay special attention to his salon-atelier. Here’s another version of the virtual house tour.

AND… part of me wants to go just to see this incredible on-site Monet store!