Product Description

"Gardening was something I learned in my youth. I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers"
- Claude Monet

Impressionist Claude Monet (1840-1926) created a magnificent five-acre garden that he considered to be his greatest artistic achievement. It was restored in 1980 and is now the most visited garden of its size in the Western world. With its spectacular color combinations and distinctive structural elements, the Monet garden at Giverny, France, inspires the dreams of thousands of gardeners.

Award-winning garden writer and photographer Derek Fell has visited Giverny many times and always admired the beauty of its plantings and the subtle balance of colors. After years of carefully studying Monet's design and plantings, he shares the artist's secrets. In The Magic of Monet's Garden, Fell reveals Monet's breathtaking color harmonies and describes how the artist "painted" his living masterpiece. He guides the reader on how to scale down Monet's ideas for the home garden, with attention to:

• Understanding the laws of colors
• Building color harmonies
• Creating innovative combinations
• Recognizing the power of monochromatic plantings
• Using black in the garden
• Working with structure and form
• Building rhythm and surprise
• Capitalizing on sunlight and shadow
• Incorporating water features
• Attracting birds and butterflies.

With 175 color photographs and illustrations and a dozen detailed planting plans, The Magic of Monet's Garden will inspire and instruct home gardeners to create their own versions of Giverny.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #317825 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 160 pages

Review
Glorious ... a delicious treatise on the mechanics of this famous painter's garden. (Scripps Howard Wire Story 20071208)

In essence a lesson on how to design an artistic garden. (National Garden Clubs, Inc. 20071026)

Offers a window into the mind of ... one of the most gifted flower gardeners of the 20th century. (Joel M. Lerner The Washington Post 20071215)

Lush with images.... Artists and those who appreciate beauty ... will enjoy some time meandering in Claude Monet's garden, (Carolyn Leitch Globe and Mail 20071231)

More than 200 colour photographs and a dozen planting plans, and secrets for creating the luminescent quality of [Monet's] gardens. (The Globe and Mail 200712)

You'll be inspired by Monet's color combinations ... for your own masterpiece.... When you're done you can boast to the neighborhood that you keep the Monet in the yard. (Style at Home 20071201)

This recent offering from Fell is one to treasure.... [It] will appeal to photographers and to gardeners. (Canadian Camera 20071207)

Fell reveals [Monet's] breathtaking color harmonies at Giverny and [shows] how to scale down his ideas for the home garden. (The National Post 20071204)

Details the painter's gardening techniques, structural accents and favorite plants, with beautiful photographs and a number of helpful diagrams. (Nancy Schoeffler The Hartford Courant 20071220)

This beauty will make your imagination soar. (Helen Halpenny The Lanark Era 20081208)

This beauty will make your imagination soar. (Helen Halpenny Review-Mirror (Westport, ON) 20071025)

Delicious ... glorious.... The Magic of Monet's Garden will soon be bruised and battered. (Maureen Gilmer Scripps Howard News Service 20070916)

[Fell's] photographs are the next best thing to visiting the living canvas that the famous Impressionist created. (Jessica Damiano Newsday (NY) 20071013)

Fell offers a loving portrait of [Giverny], with glossy pictures and reproductions of Monet's paintings. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 20071023)

What a great gift this would be for lovers of art, history and garden design. (Marianne Binetti Seattle Post-Intelligencer 20071218)

I really enjoyed this book.... it gives insight into Monet's thinking and his love of Giverney, the garden he created. (Ian Munt Sudbury Star 20071208)

Offers a window into the mind of one of the ... most gifted flower gardeners of the 20th century. (St. Petersburg Times 20071215)

My favourite this year ... Not as good as a plane ticket, maybe -- but a lot cheaper. (Mary Fran McQuade Beach Metro Community News 20080401)

Offers a window into the mind of one of the...most gifted flower gardeners of the 20th century. (Joel M. Lerner Salisbury Post 20080125)

A delicious treatise on the mechanics of the famous painter's garden. (Maureen Gilmer Record Searchlight, Redding, CA (wire story) 20081212)

Gardeners looking to emulate Monet's vivid approach will find planting plans in Fell's book. (Romantic Home )

Fell reveals Monet's breathtaking color harmonies and describes how the artist "painted" his living masterpiece. (Rob Mooy Kingston This Week )

Major themes and small anecdotes will educate the gardener and inspire thoughts about how to incorporate some of Monet's practices. (Mariana Greene The Dallas Morning News )

It's nearly as good as a trip there, especially in these budget-conscious times. (Mary Fran McQuade Vaughan Today )

About the Author

Derek Fell is an award-winning garden designer and photographer whose articles are published worldwide. He is the author of more than one hundred gardening books and calendars, including Firefly Books' Encyclopedia of Hardy Plants and Encyclopedia of Garden Design and Structure. Derek Fell lives in Pennsylvania.

Customer Reviews

Beautiful book
This is a must-have book to read to your child. It conveys the wonderment of childhood, nature, colors, and art along with the wonderment of Monet and his love for beauty. The illustrations are outstanding. I love this book.