The Impressionist fascination with gardens was a multifaceted phenomenon, intertwining personal significance, artistic expression, and a profound connection to the natural world. These gardens were not merely backdrops for paintings but were integral to the artists' lives and creative processes.
The Ubiquity of Gardens and the Rise of Impressionism
In the second half of the 19th century, gardens became ubiquitous, offering a sensory experience that captivated the Impressionists. The advent of leisure gardens accessible to all, coupled with the 'great horticultural movement' of new and exotic plants, trees, and flowers, transformed the landscape. Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward's 'ward cases' facilitated the global transportation of live plants, while glass and iron greenhouses allowed for the overwintering of exotic species. This period also saw advancements in hybridization, fueled by Charles Darwin's theories, leading to larger, more scented, and decorative flowers, as well as a boost in commercial vegetable growing.
Gardens as 'Green Lungs' and Artistic Inspiration
In Paris, Napoleon III's new parks served a dual purpose: public hygiene and artistic inspiration. These parks, with their trees and corbeilles, were alluring, but the Impressionists' response was nuanced. Édouard Manet's depiction of the Tuileries Gardens in 1863, with its primal forest-like trees, subverted the idea of a cultivated green space. Pierre-Auguste Renoir's nostalgia for the pre-modern era, where gardens were common, is evident in his paintings. He even included a not-yet-in-bloom corbeille in the foreground of his Champs-Élysées painting, highlighting the ongoing 'bedding out' regime of Baron Haussmann.
The Private Garden as an Artistic Haven
The private garden became a sanctuary for the Impressionists, serving as both an outdoor studio and a source of inspiration. Claude Monet's paintings of his Argenteuil garden, for instance, inscribed his family within the landscape, projecting familial pride and hope for national renewal. After the Franco-Prussian War, growing a garden became symbolic, a celebration of French soil. Pissarro's kitchen garden paintings at Pontoise reflected his utopian socialist vision, while Berthe Morisot's works conflated the growth of her child with that of nature.
The Cosmic Garden: Monet's Giverny
Monet's Giverny garden in Normandy became his primary source of inspiration for the last third of his life. His cultivation of hybrid water lilies, showpieces of modern horticulture, led to his iconic paintings of the pond, capturing the interplay of light and atmosphere. These paintings construct a poetic vision of nature as a perpetually unfolding harmony, where the garden embraces the cosmic. Monet's use of this motif in his Paris Orangerie murals, a World War I memorial, further emphasizes the garden as an 'attachment environment', encircling the viewer and offering a sense of peace and connection.
In conclusion, the Impressionists' love for gardens was a complex interplay of personal, social, and artistic factors. These gardens were not just settings for paintings but integral to the artists' lives, reflecting their desires for a better world, their nostalgia for rural existence, and their pursuit of capturing the sensations of the present moment in their art.
