Gardens in the Museum

Our Cleveland Museum of Art is currently displaying a special exhibit entitled "Painting the Modern Garden - Monet to Matisse".  The show, organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Royal Academy of Arts in London, will run until January 5, 2016, and will then move on to London.  The exhibit examines the garden as a source of inspiration for late 19th and early 20th century painters. 


(image from the web)
"The Artist's Garden at Eragny" by Camille Pisarro

Today, a high school friend of mine and I went to see the exhibit.  It was truly impressive.   The show contains more than 100 paintings gathered from museums and private collections from around the world.  Many great names in art are represented...  Renoir, Pisarro,  Gaughin, Van Gogh, Manet, Cezanne, Matisse, and others.  Most of all it spotlights a large number of works by the painter who is most associated with gardens, Claude Monet.  Monet was an avid horticulturalist, and the gardens at his homes were the subject of many of his works. 

 

One of the gems of Cleveland's permanent collection is a large (14 x 6 feet) painting of the water lilies in the water garden at his home in Giverny.  I did not realize that it is part of a much larger triptych of three canvasses.  For this exhibit the other two paintings, on loan 
from museums in Kansas City and St. Louis, were brought to Cleveland.  They are hung together to create one enormous painting.  It is one of the highlights of the show.

 

 

 (image from the web)

Cleveland's portion of the Monet triptych

   (image from the web)

The three water lily canvasses reunited



Cleveland is the only United States venue for this exhibit.  So, if you are within driving distance, I recommend that you visit our art museum to see this outstanding show.