Flower Power

 I've always admired the Impressionists. When I started Esprit Decor Gallery in 1985, I read that the De Young Museum in San Francisco was mounting a blockbuster show on the Impressionists, with artwork from all over the world. Museums, galleries, and private collectors had lent pieces for the show, and it would be a chance to see actual paintings that I had only seen photographs in Art History books. 

Naturally, the show was completely sold out, but I hopped on a plane, caught a bus from SFO to Golden Gate Park, grabbed a sign I found lying in the grass that said, "I NEED TICKETS," and within a minute, I was in the queue for the exhibit. 

The show was organized chronologically, with eight huge rooms corresponding to the eight impressionist exhibitions between 1874 and 1886—the blink of an eye in the history of art but a movement that would change the world forever. 

Fast forward a century, and I was, mouth open, staring up at Gustave Caillebotte's "Paris Street; Rainy Day," a genre scene of a couple under umbrellas near the Gare St. Lazare. I slowly made my way through the rest of the exhibition, awed by the magnificence of each successive image, and made a silent promise to myself that one day, I would go to Paris to revisit many of the paintings I had seen.

The movement that would set the art world on its ears took its name from an image by Claude Monet titled  "Impression, Sunrise," painted in April of 1874. He had moved to Giverny the previous year and would spend the rest of his life painting his garden and nearby lily pond. Millions of people from across the world have made the pilgrimage to this pastoral location in a tiny town fifty miles or so Northeast of Paris. I was one. 

 That was a long time ago, almost a quarter of a century. I've returned to that spot several times since then, by myself or with friends, to share the beauty of the setting that has produced some of the most beloved art in the history of the world. In these images, I hope to share it with you. To see the entire portfolio, click this link:  take me to Monet's Garden.