Customer Reviews

Monet's Passion: Ideas, Inspiration and Insights from the Painter's Gardens

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An easy read and visual feast, Monet's Passion exposes methods behind the color, texture, layout and scents of his magical gardens. It magnifies one's experience visiting the gardens or his works in galleries, and is a valuable companion to the painter's many works.

Beautiful photographs of the gardens at all seasons. Plant lists. The author tells about the history of Giverny and her experiences as a gardener there. It would have been helpful to know which US zones the plants would be hardy in.

Elizabrth Murrray's books and art work are beautiful and inspiring. I am contributing these volumes to the public school of my grandchildren to accompany thier new school garden. She has a new book of art by children in Equador called Nantu Aujujae but I couldn't find it with your search, I wanted to include it with the other Elizabeth Murray books for the school. I hope you post it soon.

Every gardener knows about Monet's magnificent gardens at Giverny which inspired so many of his paintings, but very few gardeners have the opportunity to visit those gardens and experience them in person. Lucky for us, Elizabeth Murray who is a gardener and photographer, has written a book about Giverny that is lavishly illustrated with her own incomparable photographs.

She spent a year as a gardener at Giverny and then returned, year after year, at different seasons to photograph the splendid landscape. The book is printed on heavy paper like a fine art book, but its text makes is a practical gardening book also.

We are treated to the story of Monet's acquisition of the property and development of the gardens. Ms. Murray provides the information that is so important to her gardener readers of how the gardens evolved, which plants he used, where he obtained them and why he chose them. The book includes detailed diagrams of the gardens, which with the accompanying photographs, allows us to clearly visualize Monet's designs.

Just as important, she includes information on how we can incorporate Monet's designs into our own landscapes. Whether it is a small pond filled with his favorite water plants or "paint box" beds using the same flowers or vegetables used at Giverny, Ms. Murray offers designs and plant lists for each type of garden or container.

I may never make it to France, but thanks to Ms. Murray's stunning photographs, I will be able to visit Monet's garden at Giverny every time I open this book. I just have to decide how to shelve it: with my photography books or garden books.

If there is anyone who "gets it" completely about the beauty of the earth, it's Elizabeth Murray. This book, just like its title suggests, is filled not only with ideas, inspiration and insights from the painter's gardens, but also suggestions on how one might fill one's own life with color, abundance, and beauty. Murray sets a good example for us all with her own passion for color and light, and deep appreciation for visioning, hard work, and perseverance as illustrated in both her writing and photography.
This book would be a wonderful gift for any gardener or yourself!

Monet's Passion: Ideas, Inspiration, and Insights from the Painter's Gardens

Wow, I do not know what part of me was more deeply fed - the gardener, the painter, the florist, or the photographer.

This book is a completely fulfilling trip into Monet's life and love of colors. Seeing Monet's layering of plants, attention to foliage shape and color and awareness of the play of light in Elizabeth Murray's photographs was inspirational! Her writing is full of new information and true understanding. Miss Murray is an individual who's life seems to be intertwined with Monet and his garden. Wonderful reading from cover to cover with detailed illustrations of the plantings and exquisite photos. Thank You for taking me into this garden and breathing new life into my interest in Monet. This is the garden of my dreams!

It takes something of an artist's mind to be a gardener - to imagine what spring and summer might bring to the barren spaces of winter. And when you combine that mind with a painter's skills in color, shape, texture, and line ... well, then, you get Claude Monet, an artist who dared to experiment with light not only on canvas but in fabulous gardens that would inspire his paintings and vice versa. For nine months 25 years ago, Elizabeth Murray immersed herself in the gardens at Monet's home in Giverny, France, as a gardener, photographer, and chronicler of the many stories that other gardeners, villagers, and artists had to tell about the evolution of this landscape, which continues to change even as it attracts thousands of visitors each year. Murray has visited Giverny every year and shares some of her favorite photos in this revised edition of Monet's Passion, also adding new garden plans and other ideas that reflect contemporary concerns such as sustainable water and soil techniques and native plant usage.

The book is divided into four sections. Chapter 1 describes how Monet created the gardens and includes a fascinating look at how they might have appeared to him as his sight was failing in his later years. Chapter 2 consists of photographs of the gardens as they look today, in all seasons, with an eye toward demonstrating how it isn't just the combinations of plants that make a garden, but also how they stand against the backdrop the "borrowed landscape" of buildings and other structures, clear and cloudy skies, and morning mist.

Chapter 3 explains how to apply Monet's gardening principles at home - not to duplicate Giverny itself, but to achieve some of its effects. Murray presents four complete designs - The Blooming House, A Kitchen Garden, Color Study Gardens by Season, and The Blooming Mirror Water Garden -- all with excellent, clear diagrams, plus ideas for balcony and container gardening for those without the space (and staff!) that Monet enjoyed. Perhaps my favorite suggestion is the espaliered apple tree turned into a blooming fence. Any of these schemes can be adapted as a whole or probed for its wisdom about color, framing, materials, etc.

The final section consists of appendices on the plants Monet used, a Giverny garden chronology, a glossary of color terms, and a description of Monet's basic palette, which consisted of only five colors. There is also an appendix giving hardiness and cultivation tips on the Giverny plants most likely to be chosen by home gardeners. This is the one place where I wanted to see more information. Some of the advice seems obvious and trivial, for example: "Consult a vegetable gardening book for the varieties you would like to grow." In other places, key details are omitted, such as the tendency for bamboo and wisteria to spread into unwanted areas - and thus their need for considerable maintenance effort. Adding resources on native plant information sources or - better yet - making suggestions for wide-ranging natives that might substitute for some of the commonly cultivated non-natives would have been another great enhancement for this section. But all those are minor flaws that can be mitigated by using Murray's book as it was intended - as a source for ideas, not a comprehensive gardening guide.

Visits to historical gardens always prompt interesting questions: How much were their designs conditioned by contemporary tastes and resources? What can we learn from them for our contemporary gardens? How did people during that historical period relate to their gardens as social, cultural, artistic, and practical phenomena? Murray deftly brings us into the era of Claude Monet and his "alternative world, a place of beauty and restoration from which his visionary paintings came," and then leads us out into the inspiration available in our own backyards and balconies.

such a fabulous book with lovely photos and oodles of fascinating info.
so many of the "other" Monet books are fluff with misinformation; this was a feast.
a must have and lovely gift!

I HAVE LOVED THE ORIGINAL "MONET'S PASSION" FOR 20 YEARS! IT HAS BEEN A BEAUTIFUL SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR ME THROUGHOUT THE YEARS.
HOW COULD THIS NEW EDITION POSSIBLY BE BETTER?
WELL, I AM HERE TO TELL YOU THIS NEW "MONET'S PASSION" IS ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE! IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING THE MURRAY PHOTOGRAPHS ARE EXQUISITE; SO LUSH AND RICH YOU CAN ALMOST SMELL THE ROSES! THE BODY COPY IN THIS NEW EDITION IS BURSTING WITH INTERESTING, WELL RESEARCHED INFORMATION. THIS LOVELY BOOK IS LAYER UPON LAYER OF THE MOST FASCINATING DETAILS ABOUT MONET, HIS LIFE, ART AND GARDENS. THE GARDENING INFORMATION IS PRESENTED IN A "CAN-DO" WAY WITH LOTS OF GOOD IDEAS; NOT THE LEAST BIT INTIMIDATING FOR THE BEGINNING GREEN THUMB-ERS!
THERE IS A GREAT RESOURCE SECTION IN THE BACK: PLANTS USED BY MONET, CHRONOLOGY OF THE GARDENS, VOCABULARY OF COLOR, MONET'S COLOR PALETTE, BIBLIOGRAPHY AND... WEB RESOURCES. REALLY, THERE IS SO MUCH PACKED INTO THESE 128 PAGES IT IS AMAZING!
I FEEL "MONET'S PASSION" WILL BE A PLEASURE FOR ANYONE, NOT JUST GARDENERS AND ART LOVERS - A DELIGHTFUL AWAKENING FOR ALL!

If art is the apprehension of truth through feeling, you'll feel great about this book. Elizabeth Murray has created and presented a volume of deliciously layered truth and beauty, pleasing the mind, the eye and the soul. As a semi-colorblind suburban dude who likes to mow his lawn and putter a bit in the garden, I'm not usually drawn to books of this kind. But here you have Claude Monet revealed and celebrated by a talented author/photographer who is an accomplished artist/gardener in her own right. Tres magnifique! It's a feast of precise, elegant language. Each sentence is a gem and the photo captions were obviously written with great love and care. She writes about color so a blind eye can possess it. You'll learn all about the ups and downs of Monet's life, the development of his sensibilities, and how he discovered and delighted in his beloved Giverny home. You'll read exquisite descriptions of how Monet planned the gardens, the colors, the textures, the timing to best reflect the seasons and the varying light. Fascinating details like which petals best allow the light through. The photographs are jaw-dropping. You could sit on your deck for hours marveling at them while your little johnny jumpups hang out in their planter. I read the book a little at a time to savor it. Here's Monet in his yellow kitchen. Here's a drawing of his lily pond showing how he diverted water from the nearby river to sustain it. Elizabeth provides detailed renderings of the bones of the garden, the trellises, the arbors, with overlays showing how they'll look in full bloom. The flowers, plants and trees are all labeled so you can see what's what. She has really piled on the value here, as the back of the book contains lots of detailed, interesting and useful supplemental material. It's a very satisfying tome to linger with and enjoy. Plus, I like the sheer weight and texture of the book - it feels good and substantial in my hands. The golden cloth bookmark is another cool touch. (Or is it green?) I poked around Elizabeth's amazing web site too, and highly recommend a browse. There are videos of her speaking about her art and her life, including a very touching one wherein she tears up talking about exposing kids to art and nature. You'll apprehend this book - it's a beut, and so is Liz, and that's the truth.