The Garden at War

World War I brought darkness to Giverny. The sound of artillery could be heard from the front, mere miles away. Monet's stepson Jean-Pierre was killed in action, and his son Michel served at the front. The garden staff was reduced to one elderly gardener as younger men went to war. Monet, devastated by personal losses and the destruction he saw around him, considered abandoning painting.

Yet it was during these dark years that Monet conceived his most ambitious project: the Grand Decorations, the monumental Water Lilies paintings he would donate to France as a monument to peace. Working in his new studio, he created canvases that transformed the garden pond into vast, meditative spaces. These paintings, born from the conjunction of personal paradise and global catastrophe, achieve a depth that transcends mere description.

The garden itself became an act of resistance. While Europe tore itself apart, Monet continued to tend his flowers, maintaining beauty in the face of destruction. Clemenceau, visiting during the war, found in the garden a symbol of what French civilization was fighting to preserve.