Artists' Gardens

Artists' gardens are perhaps the most personal expressions of their creativity and inspiration. Claude Monet's passion and artistry are evident everywhere in his timeless garden at Giverny; moreover, his observation of it through failing eyesight deeply influenced his paintings, leaving us with a fascinating record of both the evolution of his beloved garden and of his physically changing view of it. More recently, painter Jennifer Bartlett was moved to produce200 canvases of the same French villa garden, while sculptors Henry Moore and Isamu Noguchi envisioned their gardens as galleries. Whether it is the lush plantings of William Morris and Paul Czanne or Frida Kahlo's stark expanse of cactus, it is an artist's sense of balance, deep understanding of color, and an often unconscious composing of light and shade that makes their gardens so exceptional.