Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse Paperback – July 14, 2016 by Monty Don and Ann Dumas (Royal Academy of Arts)

Beginning with Monet, and principally his garden, Giverney, and widely known water lily paintings; encompassing Expressionists, like Kandinsky, Dufy and Paul Klee, this book covers most well-known artists (Sargent, Sorolla and Hassam) and their garden paintings; as well as some lesser known, such as Gabriele Munter and Henri Le Sidaner. The illustrations are large and there are wonderful photographs included, which add to the interesting text. The time-line is also illustrated and excellent. Most reproductions are color-accurate, but sadly the Bonnards, the Sidaners and especially the Vuillards lean to the murky. Matisse is represented by 4, less than stellar paintings, at the end of the book, with little comment as to his work. For the Monet aficionado, this is a must-have volume. It is too bad that the exhibition of the same title only had one venue in the US-Cleveland

The Impressionists were among the first to portray gardens directly from life, focusing on their colour and form rather than using them as a background for historical, religious and literary themes. This book explores the symbiotic relationship that developed during the latter part of the nineteenth century and the first part of the twentieth between artists and gardens, focusing on Monet and the creation of his garden at Giverny. Beautifully illustrated with masterpieces by Monet, his fellow Impressionists and such painters as Bonnard, Sargent, Klee, Kandinsky, Klimt, Matisse and Nolde, Painting the Modern Garden traces the effects of artistic movements and social and political influences on the garden in modern art.