The Grandes Decorations
(http://www.unf.edu/~fmille/monet2.jpg)
Following this period of abstract experimentation, Monet finally recovered from the loss of Alice and created a piece out of remembrance for the love they once shared: The Grandes Decorations. This giant work symbolizes the great influence that Alice had on Monet’s creations of water lilies in general. He had previously envisioned such a masterpiece when he “imagine[d] a circular room in which the walls above the baseboard would be covered with [paintings of] water, dotted with these plants to the very horizon, walls of a transparency by turns toned green and mauve, the still water’s calm and silence reflecting the opened blossoms. The tones are vague, lovingly nuanced, as delicate as a dream.� (Tucker Claude 197). When Monet finally concretely presented this vision, many critics saw it as a study of light; however, unlike his other Water Lilies, Monet was hindered by the large size of the canvases and therefore unable to create this work from observation outside in his garden. Instead, he relied on images from memory. Essentially, they symbolically represented the memories of the beautiful relationship he had experienced. Again, Monet painted the reflections of the water lilies, reincarnating the love of Alice. Tucker noticed that, “The scenes brim with emotion but of similarly contrasting kinds. There are cries of pain and shouts of ecstasy. Shivers of fear and clamors of celebration� (Tucker Claude 210). The huge panels were not meaningless depictions of a pond. Monet painted them with feeling that captures an audience. Tucker recognized the emotion that Monet painted with, dismissing the common opinion, that Monet’s motive was to capture only the light of the scene. Like in his circular paintings, this great work of canvases, which wrap around an entire room at the Orangerie, also represented eternity. The water lilies stretch out in a continuously impressive image symbolizing a never-ending beautiful love that Monet experienced with Alice and his garden once he moved past the more ugly beginning stages. The beauty of the love he had with Alice is memorialized in this never-ending surrounding of paintings and made even greater than any of his other works in immense size.
The Grandes Decorations (http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/
fnart/art/19th/painting/cc_monet012.jpg)
Ultimately, Alice Hoschede’s loving relationship with Monet, rather than the varying light conditions, is reflected in the pond of his Water Lilies series. Monet once said, “I perhaps owe it to the flowers for becoming a painter� (Tucker Claude 179). In this case, Monet owes it to his “water lily,� Alice, for such success and inspiration in his series and essentially his greatest work: the Grandes Decorations. After examining the parallels of patterns within Monet’s art and love life, the beautiful resilience of the Water Lilies gains a new meaning. Clearly, such a stunning depiction and a proliferation on Monet’s part did not stem from a scientific study. In the Water Lilies, the reflections of the beautiful flowers on the surface of the water originate not from the shining of sunlight, but from the glowing love a woman: Alice Hoschede.