Should hold appeal for both gardener and Monet fan alike. This is a beautiful and informative book that deserves coffee table display. Whether you wish to replicate Monet's amazing gardens (this book will show you how) or simply peruse the gorgeous photographs, this book is sure to please. Highly recommend. ( )

With a very limited knowledge of art and art history, I was a bit wary of a detailed book such as this - I thought it might be too much analysis for me. Luckily, it turned out to be the perfect book! I love knowing the WHY and where of paintings, not just painting technique. I like to know the history of the subject, the reason for the painting, the logistics of making the painting, etc. And this book fulfilled those wishes in ways I'd never imagined! It was a joy to read, and I I have spent hours and hours poring over the diagrams, photos, and other extras. You learn where paintings were made from, what plants grew when and why Monet painted when/where, and you learn all about the changes that take place over a year.

I read the book straight through when I first received it, and thought I was finished. I have found myself, though, coming back to it again and again, to re-read something for enjoyment, or to check on my memory of a plant or a pond. This will be a book that I keep for very very long time! ( )

Monet's Passion is a beautiful book, full of pictures and drawings of Monet's gardens at Giverny, laid out in three chapters plus appendices.

The first section gives the background of the period of Monet's life he spent creating and painting these gardens. There are historical and modern photos of the house and gardens and some of the paintings created there. The section ends with beautifully drawn plans of the gardens.

The second chapter is devoted to lush photographs of the gardens today, with descriptions and explanations. The pictures will delight both gardeners and fans of Monet's work.

Chapter three has plans and suggestions for creating some of Monet's effects in your own garden. It is illustrated with photographs and drawings with overlays. This section does not go into a lot of detail, but has some great ideas for experienced gardeners.

The appendices cover a guide to many of the plants mentioned and used by Monet (including north american hardiness ratings), a list of plants used by Monet in his garden, a chronology of events in Monet's life and his garden, and some information about colour and the palette Monet used. There is also a bibliography and list of Web resources.

The author spent most of a year working at the Giverny garden, and has visited it annually since then. Her love of the gardens comes through very clearly throughout the book. I think this book would be enjoyed by gardeners, photographers, artists, and those who appreciate Monet's work. The only thing that would have added to my enjoyment would be more comparisons of Monet's paintings with the garden photographs. ( )

It takes something of an artist’s mind to be a gardener – to imagine what spring and summer might bring to the barren spaces of winter. And when you combine that mind with a painter’s skills in color, shape, texture, and line ... well, then, you get Claude Monet, an artist who dared to experiment with light not only on canvas but in fabulous gardens that would inspire his paintings and vice versa. For nine months 25 years ago, Elizabeth Murray immersed herself in the gardens at Monet’s home in Giverny, France, as a gardener, photographer, and chronicler of the many stories that other gardeners, villagers, and artists had to tell about the evolution of this landscape, which continues to change even as it attracts thousands of visitors each year. Murray has visited Giverny every year and shares some of her favorite photos in this revised edition of Monet’s Passion, also adding new garden plans and other ideas that reflect contemporary concerns such as sustainable water and soil techniques and native plant usage.

The book is divided into four sections. Chapter 1 describes how Monet created the gardens and includes a fascinating look at how they might have appeared to him as his sight was failing in his later years. Chapter 2 consists of photographs of the gardens as they look today, in all seasons, with an eye toward demonstrating how it isn’t just the combinations of plants that make a garden, but also how they stand against the backdrop the “borrowed landscape” of buildings and other structures, clear and cloudy skies, and morning mist.

Chapter 3 explains how to apply Monet’s gardening principles at home – not to duplicate Giverny itself, but to achieve some of its effects. Murray presents four complete designs – The Blooming House, A Kitchen Garden, Color Study Gardens by Season, and The Blooming Mirror Water Garden -- all with excellent, clear diagrams, plus ideas for balcony and container gardening for those without the space (and staff!) that Monet enjoyed. Perhaps my favorite suggestion is the espaliered apple tree turned into a blooming fence. Any of these schemes can be adapted as a whole or probed for its wisdom about color, framing, materials, etc.

The final section consists of appendices on the plants Monet used, a Giverny garden chronology, a glossary of color terms, and a description of Monet’s basic palette, which consisted of only five colors. There is also an appendix giving hardiness and cultivation tips on the Giverny plants most likely to be chosen by home gardeners. This is the one place where I wanted to see more information. Some of the advice seems obvious and trivial, for example: “Consult a vegetable gardening book for the varieties you would like to grow.” In other places, key details are omitted, such as the tendency for bamboo and wisteria to spread into unwanted areas – and thus their need for considerable maintenance effort. Adding resources on native plant information sources or – better yet – making suggestions for wide-ranging natives that might substitute for some of the commonly cultivated non-natives would have been another great enhancement for this section. But all those are minor flaws that can be mitigated by using Murray’s book as it was intended – as a source for ideas, not a comprehensive gardening guide.

Visits to historical gardens always prompt interesting questions: How much were their designs conditioned by contemporary tastes and resources? What can we learn from them for our contemporary gardens? How did people during that historical period relate to their gardens as social, cultural, artistic, and practical phenomena? Murray deftly brings us into the era of Claude Monet and his “alternative world, a place of beauty and restoration from which his visionary paintings came,” and then leads us out into the inspiration available in our own backyards and balconies. ( )

Monet's Passionis a delight to read, to hold, even to play with (the overlays near the back of the book simply mesmerized me). The only improvement I can think of would be to have included more reproductions of Monet's work; but of course, art lovers everywhere either have the art books or know where to find them. This would be a joy to take to the museums! Monet not only was an artist with paints and brushes, it seems, but put at least as much effort to make visuals with actual flowers. I wonder, indeed, if he were a gardener first and a painter second. I am grateful that he did do the second! ( )