Monet in da Bronx

If you're thinking of going to France to see Monet's Garden....

Well, think again.

For the price of a MetroNorth ticket a few stops up the Harlem line, you can see it in the Bronx. The people at the New York Botanical Garden, have recreated Monet's Garden in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory and it's just marvelous.

The train ride is only 20 minutes and you debark across the street from the Mosholu Gate entrance. On your way to the Haupt Conservatory you pass Library Allée leading up to the Mertz Library where there are a few Monet paintings and some memorabilia. But see this last.

Looking toward the Mertz Library, this vista brings to mind an image of

 an 18th century folly in England. 

Walk a short distance to the Conservatory, the nation's largest 

Victorian glasshouse with a 90-foot dome.

 Try not to think of 

Colonel Mustard committing a murder with a candlestick. 

A splendid urn holding geraniums at the Conservatory entrance.

Enid A. Haupt, New York philanthropist and horticulturist was responsible for

the renovation of the Conservatory. 

At the entrance to the Monet Garden, a reflecting pool and a photograph of the actual lily pond at Giverny, France. The Monet floral exhibit is a tribute to the French Impressionist painter,Claude Monet. Running through October 1, it will showcase seasonal changes in the garden.

A flower tableau at the entrance to Monet's Garden. Monet created his
garden at his house, which he moved to in 1883,
 in the French country side, 50 miles from Paris.

A photograph of Monet's house in Giverny showing the green trim.

Monet was painting with flowers and mixing color
 as he would have on a canvas. He once said that

flowers were the reason that he became a painter.

 I love this sudden jolt of yellow iris in amongst the red flowers.

Speaking of yellow, this lady, in a lemon-yellow skirt and beautiful lace parasol, looked terrific. Like a lemon meringue pie. The Monet show is the perfect place to wear flower-themed costumes, although almost everyone there was of a decidedly ordinary bent when it came to dressing. More garden club than fashion club.

 Hollyhocks. The most romantic, old-fashioned flower in the galaxy.

 Look at the big, rough leaves, like Swiss Chard. 

 Photographers were having a field day, the bigger the lens, the better.

 I was just as happy to be shooting with my mini 

Canon Powershot -- no bells or whistles.

Violet hydrangeas. Acidic pH soil -- pinker hydrangeas.

Alkaline pH soil - bluer hydrangeas.

My painting of "Hortensia," or hydrangea en français.

I could not pass up an homage to Monet
with my Suno tunique and Borsalino straw fedora adorned
with an orange rose.

An Ossie Clark tulip dress would be perfect to wear to the Monet garden.

 This flower was receiving the most attention of any plant in the garden.

A 1961 dress fashioned from a textile

for Liberty and Co., Ltd.

I could re-name this painting of mine
  Mrs. Enid A. Haupt Making Her Debut in Society.

 I love the droopy quality of these roses, like the skirt of a ballgown.

People were having so much fun taking pictures on the
 Japanese footbridge.

A stranger was kind enough to snap our picture too.

I snapped someone snapping Richard and a friend.
The snapping turtles were in the lily pond.

 It was the perfect day to visit Monet's garden.
Sunny and cool. The sky was blue with drifting clouds.

Mrs. Delany, 18th century Collage Artist

"Geran: Inquinans", 1778, collage of colored papers, British Museum
13" x 9"

In 2009, we saw an exhibit at the Yale Center for British Art called "Mrs. Delany & Her Circle." Mary Delany was an extraordinary woman: an artist and lady of fashion with aristocratic connections. In 1768, Mary Delany, age 72, began to make cut-paper collages of plants which she called "paper mosaicks." In a ten-year period, she made 1,000 of them.

From top: Mixing watercolors; drawing collage elements; painting collage elements.

From top: Cutting collage elements; attaching collage elements with tweezers; rubbing down collage elements.

A recreation of a portion of Monet's house.

In the Shop in the Garden, I coveted this book.

After you see the Monet garden, take the guided tram tour all around the grounds for a complete overview of this amazing garden and it's many habitats. The New York Botanical Garden was founded in 1892 on the estate of the tobacco merchant, Pierre Lorillard.

The end of a perfect day of beauty.
The Metro-North Station at Botanical Garden.

A Paul Poiret Rose

À bientôt.
J'espère que vous verrez des belles fleurs cet été!