Around 1860 -1926 · Bouquet, orchard, garden and impressionist light

From the vase placed in the workshop to the flowering orchards and gardens of Giverny, Monet paints less a botanical species than a light transforming petals, foliage and space.

Flowers accompany Claude Monet's entire career, well beyond the famous Water Lilies. In his first still lifes, a bouquet or vase allows him to study the color accords and the material of the petals. In the open air, the apple trees and flowering orchards combine the floral pattern with spring, wind and the depth of the landscape. The meadows and Jerusalem artichoke flowers further expand the scale: the flowering becomes a colorful tablecloth that connects foreground, sky and horizon. After settling in Giverny in 1883, Monet organized his garden as a real living workshop. Massives, seasons and paths provide changing patterns, while the water garden opens the Water Lilies cycle. The bouquets maintain a centered composition; orchards introduce trunks and perspective; late gardens can almost completely dissolve the boundaries of the pattern. In any case, the juxtaposed touch does not describe each petal separately. It reconstructs the overall impression produced by light, air and color. The "Fleurs de Claude Monet" selection notably compares Les pommiers en fleurs and Les Fleurs. His reading favors figures.

Monet doesn't count the petals: he seeks the fleeting agreement that flowering, air and light compose before him.