《ジヴェルニーのモネの庭》 1900年
Photo © GrandPalaisRmn (musée d’Orsay) / Adrien Didierjean / distributed by AMF
Irises in Monet’s Garden, 1900
Photo © GrandPalaisRmn (musée d’Orsay) / Adrien Didierjean / distributed by AMF
モネは、ジヴェルニーの自分の庭園に情熱を注ぎこみました。色、形、開花期という観点から植え付けの植物を選び、苗木商や植物学者の意見を取り入れつつ、長い時間をかけて一枚の風景画のように庭をつくりあげました。庭園のメンテナンスには6人もの庭師が必要でした。小経に沿って帯状に植えられているのは、モネがとりわけ好んだ青紫のアイリスです。画面下の左端から対角線が伸び、じきに赤っぽい幹の木々にぶつかります。背景には、家屋の壁の薔薇色、そして、画面全体を占める鬱蒼とした植物の中に埋没する鎧戸の緑が見えます。画家は画面の上下で描き方をさまざまに変化させました。 緑と茶色の色調の画面上部では、縦方向に並べるようなタッチ、画面下では、もっと色の階調を広げ、より自由で丸みのある筆遣いが確認できます。
Monet poured his passion into his garden at Giverny. He selected plants based on their color, form, and flowering period, soliciting advice from nurserymen and botanists and spending countless hours in creating a garden that resembled a large landscape painting. To help maintain this garden, he employed a team of up to six gardeners. Planted in strips along the paths are the blue-violet irises that Monet particularly favored. A diagonal line extends from the lower left corner of the canvas, and quickly meets up with a copse of reddish-trunked trees. In the background, we can barely make out the rose-colored wall of the house and the green of the shutters, which are almost hidden amid the dense vegetation that seems to engulf the entire canvas. Monet varied his technique significantly between the upper and lower parts of the canvas. In the upper half, dominated by green and reddish-brown tones, he employed vertical brushstrokes arranged in rows. While in the lower half, a wider range of color gradations can be seen, along with freer and more rounded brushwork.