Japan in Giverny: Monet’s Impressionist Garden with Melissa Berry
Please join us on March 1, 2020, from 2pm-4pm with Melissa Berry who will be speaking about Claude Monet’s Garden at Giverny.
When Claude Monet moved to Giverny in 1883, his objective was creation. Unlike previous artistic ventures, he no longer seemed satisfied finding inspiration for his canvases in a world in which he had no control. Thus, Monet’s largest, most immersive masterwork was born, or rather cultivated. He approached his land with an artist’s eye to establish a colourful, ever-changing garden. Monet’s horticultural design was determined by his aesthetic influences, primary among these was Japan. Japanese art impacted Monet throughout his career; therefore, it is unsurprising to see it resonate in this tangible artistic medium. Monet continued to develop his garden, adding to and drawing inspiration from it, which served his subject matter until his death in 1926.
Melissa Berry received her MA from the Courtauld Institute in 2006 and her PhD in Art History and Visual Studies in 2015 from the University of Victoria where she is now an Adjunct Assistant Professor. Her current research is focused on the art market as well as translocal interconnections between European artists in the mid-19th century, which she has presented at various international conferences and published in The Victorian Review, Visual Culture in Britain, and The Burlington Magazine. Her book The Société des trois in the Nineteenth Century was published with Routledge in 2018.
