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Impressionism is my favorite art style, but Monet is not my favorite Impressionist. (My favorite Impressionist is Renoir, and my favorite artist in any style is Andy Goldsworthy.) But Monet created my single favorite work of visual art. It's not one of his paintings. It's his garden at Giverny.
When I saw this book on Kindle deal I grabbed it, as my perfunctory skim of the blurb made me think it was an analysis of the principles and execution of his garden, and how they might be applied to your garden.
So my reaction to this book is at least 50% my own fault, as that's only about 5% of the book. The book is about how to bring aspects of Monet's work and life into your own life. However, the other 50% of my annoyance with this book is how laughably surface-level its ideas are.
It suggests having a picnic with bread and cheese, because Monet liked bread and cheese. It shows a photo of Monet's kitchen with copper pans hanging up, and says you could hang up some copper pans in your kitchen. It says Monet liked Japanese prints, so you could also hang up a Japanese print. It repeatedly suggests that if you want to bring some Monet vibes into your life, you could try hanging a Monet print in your house NO SHIT SHERLOCK WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THAT.
It commits this sentence:
One of the most special features of color is that we actually experience colors, and they can have a direct effect on our mood and our preferences.
ONE OF THE MOST SPECIAL FEATURES OF COLOR IS THAT WE ACTUALLY EXPERIENCE COLORS.
However, this did lead me to poke around and see if there were any books that were actually about stuff like Monet's use of color and seasonality in his garden and how those general principles might be applied, and it looks like there is so I will get that book.
Of course I'm not remotely planning to recreate Monet's garden, but I'm looking for principles like the one useful thing I did get out of this book, which was that he planted low, white-blooming flowers around tall, bright ones to get a shimmering effect. And also, analyzing a really great work of art is always interesting and always helpful, even if you're not going for that exact aesthetic or those exact methods and media.
I would really love a koi pond with water lilies though. Maybe a very small one someday.
When I saw this book on Kindle deal I grabbed it, as my perfunctory skim of the blurb made me think it was an analysis of the principles and execution of his garden, and how they might be applied to your garden.
So my reaction to this book is at least 50% my own fault, as that's only about 5% of the book. The book is about how to bring aspects of Monet's work and life into your own life. However, the other 50% of my annoyance with this book is how laughably surface-level its ideas are.
It suggests having a picnic with bread and cheese, because Monet liked bread and cheese. It shows a photo of Monet's kitchen with copper pans hanging up, and says you could hang up some copper pans in your kitchen. It says Monet liked Japanese prints, so you could also hang up a Japanese print. It repeatedly suggests that if you want to bring some Monet vibes into your life, you could try hanging a Monet print in your house NO SHIT SHERLOCK WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THAT.
It commits this sentence:
One of the most special features of color is that we actually experience colors, and they can have a direct effect on our mood and our preferences.
ONE OF THE MOST SPECIAL FEATURES OF COLOR IS THAT WE ACTUALLY EXPERIENCE COLORS.
However, this did lead me to poke around and see if there were any books that were actually about stuff like Monet's use of color and seasonality in his garden and how those general principles might be applied, and it looks like there is so I will get that book.
Of course I'm not remotely planning to recreate Monet's garden, but I'm looking for principles like the one useful thing I did get out of this book, which was that he planted low, white-blooming flowers around tall, bright ones to get a shimmering effect. And also, analyzing a really great work of art is always interesting and always helpful, even if you're not going for that exact aesthetic or those exact methods and media.
I would really love a koi pond with water lilies though. Maybe a very small one someday.
