Monet Water Lilies, Orangerie Museum

Claude Monet The Water Lilies

The Water Lilies was given to the French State by the painter Claude Monet after Armistice, November 11, 1918, as a symbol for peace.   Orangerie Museum in 1927 installed The Water Lilies a few months after Monet's death and, the set is one of the most significant monumental achievements of early twentieth-century painting. 

Palais Garnier Opera House

Palais Garnier Opera House

Palais Garnier Opera House is a Paris must-see, with all of the opulence of the 1900s and was the inspiration for the famous book, musical, and film Phantom of the Opera. It is one of the most known opera houses in the world. Napoleon III Commissioned Charles Garnier to create the building, in the grand Beaux-Arts style of the time with substantial glass chandeliers, 

marble staircases, and gilt decorations.

Now home to the Paris Ballet, it has a 2,000 seat theatre and is a fantastic Parisian treasure. 

Les Arceaux Fleuris, Giverny

In 1913 Claude Monet painted Flowering Arches, Giverny.  Currently on display at the Phoenix Art Musem.  When you see this painting in person and then have the opportunity to travel to Giverny and view Monet's inspiration, you magnify your appreciation.

You see, Monet planted these arches to hide the nearby rail line near his property in Giverny and created a peaceful place to cut off the distractions of the modern world. Monet dealt with depression, self-doubt, and despair after his wife died in 1911.  And yet, he took action, he created a space for pleasantry, a place for flowers to grow, and he painted.  Perhaps he understood that we create our reality, and if our outlook is not pleasing, we can obstruct that view by planting flowers.  We can plant what we want to grow both in pots and earth and metaphorically as well.

Monet once said, "Gardening was something I learned in my youth when I was unhappy. I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers." We owe a lot to Monet for sharing his love of flowers - and his paintings.

Monet's Garden - Synaeda Blue Tulip

In spring, as you walk through the gardens of Giverny, the famous lily ponds of Claude Monet. You see the inspiration of Monet's impressionist paintings. The multitude of flowers beckons you to walk and sit and think. An artist inspired to sit and draw or paint. If you are not an artist, you want to sit and look and listen. Bee's buzzing, insects, chirping, and birds are flying by. It is a peaceful place. It is the pilgrimage of many, and many are here to enjoy the day.

Pictured here, the Synaea Blue Tulip, bloom in mid-late spring. They wave at you as the wind blows, bending the flower to and fro. You are far from the stress of modern-day life. Most people do know that this famous impressionist painter dealt with depression. Most of his life. There is irony, in fact, that his paintings are pleasant. They sold as a cure for stress, in the same way, the essential oils sold today. What will not surprise you is that his garden gave him comfort, and we are comfortable as we walk.