Art and inspiration for Monet, Van Gogh come to life with visit to their homes in France

Monet spent many hours gazing into his water garden from the arched green bridge spanning one end of it. Even on a rainy day the iconic bridge and its surroundings are lovely. Courtesy of Fondation Claude Monet

Step into Monet’s garden at Giverny and enter a living work of art by the father of Impressionism.

Claude Monet was in his 40s and already a well-known painter when he established his sanctuary in 1883 in this country town northwest of Paris. He’d been widowed four years before when his wife, Camille, died of cancer, leaving him with sons Jean, 12, and Michel, just 1.

At first, he rented the house, and his longtime friend Alice Hoschede, who had cared for Camille, moved in with her six children to care for his sons. A few years later, after the death of her husband, Ernest, the two would marry and he would begin to create his famous garden.

Monet was 50 when he bought the home, his first. After purchasing the house and property, he petitioned the town so he could divert a tributary of the nearby Seine River to construct what was to become his famous water garden.

Meanwhile, he was painting his famous haystacks series in the surrounding countryside and traveling to nearby Rouen to paint its Cathedral at different times of the day. He painted more than 30 views of that cathedral but didn’t paint in his garden until it was finished.

Monet painted more than 30 views at different times of day of the intricately designed Cathedral at Rouen, for which ground was broken in 1030. Janet Podolak

Visitors to France can visit Giverny to see Monet’s gardens and travel to nearby Auvers-sur-Oise, where Van Gogh completed more than 80 works in the final two months of his life. Both are about an hour’s drive from Paris, and tours to each easily can be arranged.

Monet worked to capture light and colors, preferring to work quickly outdoors to catch the transitory moods of nature with quick, suggestive brushstrokes. Those flecks of color — the artist’s impressions — at first criticized were but became the standard for Impressionist art. Working outdoors — in plein aire — also was not accepted then.

But Monet drew a following among other artists, and Renoir, Rodin, Cezanne, Pissarro and many American artists came to visit him at Giverny. As he grew older, Monet would sit for hours in his garden studying the changes of light on his water lilies and other flowers and plants. In the final 30 years of his life, he painted more than 250 views of the waterlilies.

Monet’s tobacco jar, from which he rolled the cigarettes he often was shown holding, is on a shelf in his dining room at Giverny. He died of lung cancer in 1926 at 86 and is buried in the town’s church cemetery. Janet Podolak

The Cleveland Museum of Art displays the left panel of a three-part variation on Monet’s water lily theme. The other two are at museums in St. Louis and Kansas City. “The Red Kerchief,” in which Monet painted Camille, is also at the Cleveland museum.

He was a true gardener, studying the flowers he planted, purchasing bags of seeds, shrubs and plants and working the earth to improve the chalky soil near the Seine. He felled the conifers that grew there to eliminate the shade that would prevent his flowers from blooming, leaving only a pair of yew trees at either side of the entrance to his home. He planned the flowering timetables so something would always be in bloom and made the garden off-limits to his playing children.

Before long, he hired a full-time gardener and five assistants to help with the work and look after the water lilies.

Today, the gift shop, in the artist’s brightly lit water lilies studio, is a treasure trove of Monet information, tasteful souvenirs and gardening books.

Fifteen gardeners maintain today’s gardens, removing most flowers in the winter and planting them in the spring. But the original wisteria, planted by Monet, still drapes one end of the pond — surviving even when the gardens were abandoned and grew wild after the artist’s death in 1926.

Today, 15 gardeners maintain Monet’s garden at Giverny, removing most flowers in the winter when the garden is closed and replanting them in the spring. Janet Podolak

Its restoration began after the death in 1966 of his son Michel, who left it to the foundation that manages the house and gardens to this day. But the estate wasn’t reborn until the retired former curator at Versailles stepped in. It was opened to the public in 1980.

Walking through the rooms of his home reveals his love of light in many ways, from the bright yellow of Monet’s dining room to the placement of his bed, which faced east and allowed him to see the rising sun through the open shutters. He rarely, if ever, wore dark colors and favored a white suit, in which he was often photographed, complete with his bushy white beard and a cigarette in his hand.

Visitors to the cheerful yellow dining room in Monet’s home examine the Japanese prints the artist collected and had hung there. Janet Podolak

Van Gogh, who came to live in nearby Auvers-sur-Oise after departing Arles following the “accident” with his ear, was dramatically influenced by Monet. In his later works, he left his dark Dutch style behind and incorporated light and color in his paintings, including the famous sunflowers.

Visits to the homes of both artists reveal them in ways that can be discovered only when walking where they did.

Van Gogh did not have the financial success of Monet and lived in a tiny attic room above a bar. Belgian Dominique Janssens now owns the Ravoux Inn, where Van Gogh’s coffin was placed after the town’s priest refused services because the artist took his own life. The garret room where Van Gogh died has not been rented since 1890, but visitors can climb the narrow stairs to visit the empty room and have a meal at the inn, which has been restored to its 1890 appearance.

In the 70 days he lived in Auvers-sur-Oise, Van Gogh painted every day, capturing sights such as street scenes and the mayor’s office, where a replica painting is outside for all to see. This town, just 18 miles from Paris, makes an ideal headquarters for visits to both artists’ homes and surroundings. See the paintings Van Gogh did there at vggallery.com/painting/by_period/auvers.htm.

This painting by Van Gogh shows himself and the doctor he admired in Auvers-sur-Oise. Janet Podolak

While in Auvers-sur-Oise, Van Gogh was under the care of Dr. Paul Gachet, a naturopathic doctor, and Theo often came to visit. After the artist shot himself in the abdomen, he climbed the stairs to his tiny room, where he languished for two days before dying in the arms of his brother. Theo died a year later, and both men are buried in the town’s cemetery.

The graves of Vincent and his brother Theo Van Gogh are in the graveyard at Auvers-sur-Oise, where the artist lived for the last two months of his life. Janet Podolak