a Monet for December - Rosewood's garden art
For over six months, firstly with Bazille and then alone, Monet made the most of the charms of the Normandy coastline, producing a huge range of paintings from nature. He stayed in Honfleur, rising at dawn to seek out fresh subjects which he painted until evening. The Saint Siméon farm, represented on the left of the picture, is located on the road between Honfleur and Trouville. For several generations many painters (including Daubigny, Corot and Courbet) had spent time there, and so it became a recurring theme. In this case however, Monet is primarily interested in snow and its effects: 'We noticed a foot-warmer, then an easel, and then a gentleman, wrapped tightly in three jackets, wearing gloves and a half-frozen expression: it was Monsieur Monet, studying the effects of snow.' (Journal du Havre).

28 Dec Monet for December

Posted at 16:18h in Uncategorized by

Monet’s perfect December landscape

We’ve almost reached the end of the year.  That means it’s time to bring you some more garden or landscape themed art, so here’s a Monet for December.  It’s ‘A Cart on the Snowy Road at Honfleur’.  Monet painted this snowy landscape in the 1860s, and it’s perfect for this month as Christmas 2020 was officially declared white by the Met Office! (We know there was no snow in our area, but you can follow this link to see how a white christmas is defined.

Why do we love a White Christmas?

The idea of a white Christmas is always appealing.  By that we mean a proper one with snow on the ground, not just a single snowflake on the met office roof.  When they’re blanketed in white, our gardens and landscapes take on a magical quality that suits the Christmas spirit.  Nevertheless, the beauty doesn’t last long.  We drive on the snow or walk over it, then it turns to slush and gets muddy.

But Monet has preserved the beauty of this snowscene by painting it.  He hasn’t made the snow pristine across the whole landscape.  There are already signs that the natural magic of the real situation is fading – this is a road, after all, and Monet has included the mud and the slush.  But art can transform the lowest subject, making even a slushy road worthy of attention so we can find beauty where we didn’t expect it.  In a painting, it’s still beautiful even when we’d be fed up with it in life.

Gardens are always beautiful

Gardening is also like that, isn’t it?  Rosewood customers are all garden-lovers, and people who love gardens appreciate them all through the seasons.  We can imagine what’s to come in spring even if it’s winter and there isn’t much to see.  Gardeners try to plant for year-round interest, of course.  But not everything can be evergreen, and in the depths of winter, snowfall looks wonderful on bare branches and earth.

Enjoy looking at our Monet for December and dream of spring – it’s only just around the corner.  Of course you might need irrigation by then, so do give Rosewood a call when we return to work in January.  Then we can help your garden thrive next year.