Nympheus Luminansis, the Project SERIES OF PAINTINGS ON THE THEME OF CLAUDE MONET's waterlilies
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Why I began this project
In 2017, I took a professional trip not far from the famous garden of the master of impressionism Claude Monet. I had always dreamed of going to visit it because, like Claude Monet, I am a garden and plant enthusiast. I also have a very large garden which has been awarded by the Ministry of the Environment for my good environmental practices and which has the particularity of never being watered. It is the opposite of the garden in Giverny. For me, who lived at the other end of France, in my grandfather's old farmhouse, it was a unique opportunity to see the water garden and the water lilies.
I built my garden according to the drought resistant plants but especially according to the very particular light that reigns in my region and especially on my hillside property. Long before I became a painter, I was a photographer and I always liked to play with backlighting and natural light. It is with this in mind that I created my garden starting from a blank page of sorts: the meadow where my grandfather grazed his only cow.
My companion and I went to visit this garden. I still remember waiting in front of the house, on the road where the last visitors were chatting before getting their ticket in a joyful atmosphere. It was a beautiful day. We were in autumn at the end of the day. That's why we chose to visit the water garden before the house and the flower garden and to do the opposite of the other visitors. We were almost alone. On the way to the water lilies, a curtain of bamboo was blocking our view. A few more meters and I would realize my dream. Finally, they were there. Beyond the fact of seeing the water lilies, I discovered the master of impressionism's skilful construction, his vision of color and his scales of harmonies. As I walked around the pond, I saw his world and then my world in painting. Each element seemed to come to life through my pictorial imagination. It was as if the surface of the water became a score of musical notes that I deciphered as I went along. I felt every vibration. It was a unique sensation. The house had been deserted by the last visitors and we were lucky to have a guide who was passionate about the life of Claude Monet. There too, the visit of the house only confirmed the impression I had had at the water's edge: moments of incomparable happiness and tranquility. It is while returning to our vehicle that I realized how much I had been overwhelmed by this visit. The overflow of emotions was coming out in the form of tears running down my cheeks when I wasn't crying. For me, it was obvious. I wanted to paint Claude Monet's water lilies, putting on canvas all the range of emotions I had felt.
I wanted to create a whole series of large paintings with my own vision of the use of color to bring light to the fore. This project would be called: "Nympheus Luminansis, the water lilies of light".
Back home, I began the first painting in the series: an overview of the water lilies in Claude Monet's garden. A little later, we learned that my companion was suffering from Charcot's disease. This trip to Giverny was the last one he'd made while still walking. The disease evolved. So did my way of painting. How to face the inevitable, how to live alongside death. I say this because we were three.... my companion, the grim reaper and me. That was the feeling I had, that we had. Always being one step ahead to keep life “bearable”. How not to go under. Simply by letting go and doing your best. Painting the light, pouring emotion onto the canvas and, above all, provoking the living - that's what kept me going in the face of the inexorable end. It took me 4 years of inner research, evolution and apprehension to finalize this canvas, which was to be the beginning of the Water Lilies of Light project.
My companion and I went to visit this garden. I still remember waiting in front of the house, on the road where the last visitors were chatting before getting their ticket in a joyful atmosphere. It was a beautiful day. We were in autumn at the end of the day. That's why we chose to visit the water garden before the house and the flower garden and to do the opposite of the other visitors. We were almost alone. On the way to the water lilies, a curtain of bamboo was blocking our view. A few more meters and I would realize my dream. Finally, they were there. Beyond the fact of seeing the water lilies, I discovered the master of impressionism's skilful construction, his vision of color and his scales of harmonies. As I walked around the pond, I saw his world and then my world in painting. Each element seemed to come to life through my pictorial imagination. It was as if the surface of the water became a score of musical notes that I deciphered as I went along. I felt every vibration. It was a unique sensation. The house had been deserted by the last visitors and we were lucky to have a guide who was passionate about the life of Claude Monet. There too, the visit of the house only confirmed the impression I had had at the water's edge: moments of incomparable happiness and tranquility. It is while returning to our vehicle that I realized how much I had been overwhelmed by this visit. The overflow of emotions was coming out in the form of tears running down my cheeks when I wasn't crying. For me, it was obvious. I wanted to paint Claude Monet's water lilies, putting on canvas all the range of emotions I had felt.
I wanted to create a whole series of large paintings with my own vision of the use of color to bring light to the fore. This project would be called: "Nympheus Luminansis, the water lilies of light".
Back home, I began the first painting in the series: an overview of the water lilies in Claude Monet's garden. A little later, we learned that my companion was suffering from Charcot's disease. This trip to Giverny was the last one he'd made while still walking. The disease evolved. So did my way of painting. How to face the inevitable, how to live alongside death. I say this because we were three.... my companion, the grim reaper and me. That was the feeling I had, that we had. Always being one step ahead to keep life “bearable”. How not to go under. Simply by letting go and doing your best. Painting the light, pouring emotion onto the canvas and, above all, provoking the living - that's what kept me going in the face of the inexorable end. It took me 4 years of inner research, evolution and apprehension to finalize this canvas, which was to be the beginning of the Water Lilies of Light project.
Why the title “Nympheus Luminansis, the Water Lilies of Light”?
Why this exhibition title, you may ask? Well, because when I visited Claude Monet's garden, it was the first and only thing that came to mind. A very strong intuition... almost inexplicable. A name that almost came out of nowhere.
Nympheus Luminansis means water lilies of light. I love archaeology, and it's as if I (the archaeologist, the artist) had named a find, something that was in me deeply at the sight of these water lilies. I imagined an archaeologist making THE discovery of his life, something wonderful and unique that transported him, filled him with wonder, moved him to the very depths of his being.
Of course, it's a title that doesn't exist and has never been used, because I created and imagined it. It's unique. I wanted something that stood out and had never been used before by any artist. I'm the creator, the “mother”. I wanted people to automatically think of my paintings when they said these words, so that my paintings and these words would be inseparable.
Each painting has its own name and surname: “Nympheus Luminansis” as surname and first name, which characterizes it. The first painting, “Nympheus Luminansis” was given the first name of “the dance of light”!
Of course, my work is a tribute to Claude Monet's water lilies, to the extraordinary botanical creation he did in his water garden, but what I've created is my own vision of this aquatic world where the seasons play with time, light and color.
I wanted softness, beauty, calm and serenity to offer visitors to the exhibition, a bubble of happiness to bring them in a sometimes chaotic world.
Nympheus Luminansis means water lilies of light. I love archaeology, and it's as if I (the archaeologist, the artist) had named a find, something that was in me deeply at the sight of these water lilies. I imagined an archaeologist making THE discovery of his life, something wonderful and unique that transported him, filled him with wonder, moved him to the very depths of his being.
Of course, it's a title that doesn't exist and has never been used, because I created and imagined it. It's unique. I wanted something that stood out and had never been used before by any artist. I'm the creator, the “mother”. I wanted people to automatically think of my paintings when they said these words, so that my paintings and these words would be inseparable.
Each painting has its own name and surname: “Nympheus Luminansis” as surname and first name, which characterizes it. The first painting, “Nympheus Luminansis” was given the first name of “the dance of light”!
Of course, my work is a tribute to Claude Monet's water lilies, to the extraordinary botanical creation he did in his water garden, but what I've created is my own vision of this aquatic world where the seasons play with time, light and color.
I wanted softness, beauty, calm and serenity to offer visitors to the exhibition, a bubble of happiness to bring them in a sometimes chaotic world.