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Welcome to Great Art.

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For the past few years,
we have been filming

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in the biggest exhibitions,
art galleries

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and museums in the world,

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exploring some of the greatest
artists and art in history.

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Not only do we record
landmark shows,

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but we also secure privileged access
behind the scenes.

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We then use this as a springboard
to take a broader look

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at extraordinary artists.

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In this film,
we focus on a blockbuster

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that came to the Royal Academy
in London a short while ago,

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Painting The Modern Garden:
Monet To Matisse.

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No-one quite imagined
just how popular it would be.

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But it was more than that,
it was an exhibition that sought,

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amongst other things,
to show how gardening

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wasn't seen as a hobby
by these artists,

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but as an artform in itself.

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They became great horticulturalists
as part of their efforts

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to create gardens, which were then
the subjects of their art.

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By tracing these relationships,

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the show also traced the development
of modern art.

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Our film not only captures
this gorgeous show,

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a landmark in every sense
at the Royal Academy,

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but also travels
to the gardens themselves

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to help us explore how artists
painted the modern garden.

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"We went for a walk in the garden."

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"It's a perfect garden,
a panorama of flowers

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"whose beauty is deeply moving."

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"They are so tall on their stems

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"that they seem to walk along
with us."

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"Today, for the first time,

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"Monet took me across the road
and the railway line

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"beyond which the garden extends,

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"but where the landscape changes
its appearance completely."

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"There is Monet's pond
where his water lilies float...

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"..surrounded by his pale willows."

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"A pond which he has created as God
created the caprices of nature."

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I think we love to try
and compartmentalise artists

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so they have singular disciplines.

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You've got a painter,
you've got a sculptor.

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No sense that, as Michelangelo was,

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a great sculptor
can be a great draughtsman

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or that a great painter
can also be a great sculptor.

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And Monet was clearly
a great sculptor

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because in his garden,
he's sculpting nature,

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he's making sure that there are
larger flowers, smaller flowers,

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darker tones, lighter tones,

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there are colours that are fighting
against one another

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and dragging you through the scene.

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It's a great natural sculpture.

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I don't think you should undermine
quite how important

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that kind of creativity is
in our world.

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So every person who goes out
into their own garden

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and creates a space for them
is building something

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that can have the same effect on you
as a wonderful painting,

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that can allow you
to immerse yourself, to retreat,

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to find solace in beautiful things.

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Artists have always had
a fascination with gardens

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because artists can't help
but have a fascination with nature.

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You know, Durer, Botticelli,

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Charles Rennie Mackintosh,
Monet, Matisse,

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these are all people who find
in a simple flower,

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a whole universe,

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in the structures,
in the engineering.

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In the elegance and beauty
and simplicity of a flower,

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you really can find a whole world,
and that's what you are doing

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when you're mixing up colours
on a palate.

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You're finding
whole new opportunities

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to express yourself
in very simple acts.

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And nature expresses so much,
gardens can express so much

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even in a space that we just
seem to take for granted so often.

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I think the premise
of this exhibition,

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the linkage between art and gardens,
is really interesting and timely,

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partly because of the low
cultural status of gardens

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in the hierarchy of the arts,
which is sort of somewhere down

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with knitting, say, or embroidery

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and other what we might call
"applied arts" nowadays.

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But I think
as this exhibition shows,

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many of the greatest artists
of the early 20th century

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were interested, if not obsessed,
with their gardens

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and the different effects,
chromatic effects,

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the effects of atmosphere and place,

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they were really interested
in exploring the garden.

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First of all, as subject matter
for their own work,

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but in some cases, most notably
in Monet's case, of course,

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the garden itself becomes an artwork
in its own right.

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We think Monet may have been
the greatest painter of gardens

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in the history of art,
but he wasn't alone.

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There are many other artists who are
invested in this subject, deeply.

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Artists who you might expect
are Impressionists

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cos they're obviously interested
in the natural world,

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but I think other artists that
people will be surprised to learn

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were also active gardeners,
fascinated by gardeners,

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and you see a wide range of them
in the exhibition.

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They are dedicated
to the project of modernity.

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The garden, I think,
has a very wide context

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in the 19th century.

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We have to remember
this is the century

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of Darwin, after all,
his Origin Of Species in 1859

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draws people's attention
to the possibility

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that the world wasn't created
just in seven days,

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but has a longer history
going back to fossils

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and the evidence that they offer.

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And, of course, in a sense,
he is therefore exploding, Darwin,

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the whole concept of paradise
and of the Garden of Eden

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and these places of perfection
that have underpinned

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so much of Western cultural thought
and tradition.

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There are depictions of the Garden
of Eden in ancient manuscripts.

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Of course, it becomes
a really crucial subject

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during the medieval period,
you have depictions of the Virgin,

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and there are all kinds
of inner garden,

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and there are conventions
about that.

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She's in an enclosed garden
which is symbolic of her virginity.

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During the baroque era,
gardens were a significant aspect,

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actually, of royal power
because you have great kings,

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Louis XIV and others, creating
magnificent, enormous gardens.

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Most people know the gardens
of Versailles,

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but this occurred in many places
in Europe,

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and these were actually
an expression of the king's power.

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This whole culture began to change
in the 19th century

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when you had a rise
of the middle class

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and more people could have time
to do private pleasure gardening

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as opposed to practical gardening
just for growing vegetables.

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Now, they're doing this
for personal pleasure,

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there's a lot of feelings
that this contributes

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to the health of family life,
to the health of the culture,

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and you also have, at the same time,
new varieties and species

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of flowers and plants being imported
from around the world,

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from Asia, Africa, the Americas.

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And, of course,
we have science intersecting here,

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and they are taking
these imported varieties,

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they're creating new hybrids.

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And artists get involved
with this new flora culture

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in an attempt to really create
new types of species and varieties.

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And that is all facilitated
by technological developments,

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because for the first time also,
from the 1820s,

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there is a really effective way
of carrying plants,

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and not just seeds,
back from foreign lands.

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These include the Wardian case
invented by a British doctor,

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Dr Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward,

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and then we also have the greenhouse
being developed, the conservatory,

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and that enables these exotic plants
to be overwintered

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and also enables them to
be brought on and then planted out.

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And, in a way, people are having
to rethink the relationship

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they, as individuals,
have with nature.

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I think there are certain plants
which are recurring

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within these canvases
that when you garden with them,

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you understand why they're here.

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Dahlias, for instance,

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are an extraordinary thing
in themselves,

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they're incandescent
when they flower,

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they break all the rules
of what goes with what.

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The dahlia-grower is fascinated
in the flower,

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and that juxtaposition of two things

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creates often
this tremendous tension and a clash.

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There are poppies which appear
again and again

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which also have that amazing ability
to jump out of a landscape.

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There are chrysanthemums
for the same reason,

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and there're things which, in a way,
are larger-than-life flowers,

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peonies.

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There are things
which take over a moment

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which make
a particular time of year.

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As a colour exercise,
it's a wonderfully freeing thing.

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Horticulture is an amazing thing
because it links art with science,

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perhaps more
than almost any other practice.

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So it is inevitable really,
that people like Monet,

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who become seriously interested
in gardens,

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then get seriously interested
in the technical side of things

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at a very advanced level.

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So we're talking Claude Monet
and Gustave Caillebotte.

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I'm sure there are one or two more,
but they are the main ones

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and they were
great gardening buddies.

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And they were interested in
going to the flower exhibitions,

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seeing the water lilies
bred by Latour-Marliac

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or the great nurseries,
French nurseries,

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like Vilmorin at this time,

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breeding chrysanthemums
and dahlias in new forms.

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And we know that Monet,
like many a keen gardener,

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was really obsessed by novelty.

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He ordered these new hybrid species
of water lilies,

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largely produced by a grower
who still exists in France today

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called Latour-Marliac.

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What was new at the time,

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they were these bright pink
and even red,

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and, I believe,
sometimes scented water lilies,

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whereas the more common variety
were white or yellow.

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I think Monet is very keen on having
these accents of pink and red

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in the overall grey-green
watery environment of the pond.

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So he's creating a garden
with an artist's eye.

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And he's also creating a garden
or an environment

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as subject for him to paint,

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over which he has a great deal
of control.

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There were many writers
who were discussing the importance

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of gardening to family life.

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This was a place where
French civilisation could be reborn,

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this was a healthy place
to be with children and families,

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and that is seen actually
in the Impressionist paintings

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and in those paintings by Monet,

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where you see a couple
in the background,

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and it's a reference
to the garden of love.

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So it becomes part
of everyday bourgeois life,

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and that really is a primary subject
for the Impressionists

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but other artists
working in this period.

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It's all about a sort of quiet,
domestic idyll,

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or very often that becomes
a very popular subject with artists.

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So I think the small, private garden
fits very well

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into that general view of the world.

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And so the need to escape to nature
and to the restorative powers

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of nature and gardening
become very strong.

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We begin the exhibition
with two very interesting paintings.

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One is by Monet of his dahlia garden

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in the house he was renting
in Argenteuil,

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which is just outside of Paris
in the early 1870s.

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Here,
he is a poor, struggling artist,

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this is just the moment
when the Impressionist group

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is beginning to emerge.

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He couldn't afford his own house,

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he's just living
in rented properties,

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but wherever he went,
he made a garden.

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And next to it, we were very happy
to get the loan of painting

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by Renoir, painting Monet
painting the dahlia garden.

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These two pictures together
tell us quite a lot.

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First of all, they tell us that
dahlias were a very popular flower.

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It also shows the companionship
and this sort of camaraderie

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between these young Impressionists

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when they were
a fringe avant-garde group.

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There we have Monet
standing before his easel,

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he's got his brush extended,

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he's putting a touch of colour
on the canvas.

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We don't see the picture
he's painting,

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Renoir leaves that
to our imagination,

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but we can see that it must be
the great mass of dahlias alongside.

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And it's as though Monet's taking
his colours from those dahlias

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and transferring them
with the brush to the canvas.

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The garden is obviously
an outdoor studio,

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you can use it as an extension
of your house

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in order to get at, first-hand,
the effects of light and atmosphere

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that become increasingly important

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with the rise of Pleinairism,
painting out-of-doors.

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And those elements of modern life
can be found,

241
00:19:45,490 --> 00:19:47,050
can be situated in a garden,

242
00:19:47,050 --> 00:19:52,370
and that, in a way, is a means
of merging the modern life theme

243
00:19:52,370 --> 00:19:54,770
with the outdoor painting theme,

244
00:19:54,770 --> 00:19:57,690
and the garden is
a useful meeting point for the two.

245
00:20:23,930 --> 00:20:27,370
This painting by Tissot
was one of a group

246
00:20:27,370 --> 00:20:32,010
that he did in his home
in St John's Wood in London.

247
00:20:32,010 --> 00:20:34,210
A wonderful garden
he developed there,

248
00:20:34,210 --> 00:20:37,770
which was modelled partly
on the Parc Monceau in Paris.

249
00:20:37,770 --> 00:20:42,530
I think there is a tremendous theme
running through Tissot's work

250
00:20:42,530 --> 00:20:47,330
where we have the woman
as someone who is to be admired

251
00:20:47,330 --> 00:20:50,650
almost as an object,
but also a mystery,

252
00:20:50,650 --> 00:20:53,730
and the garden is traditionally
associated with the woman.

253
00:20:53,730 --> 00:20:56,610
The woman is described
as the "good genius" of gardens

254
00:20:56,610 --> 00:20:59,570
in some of the 19th century
horticultural journals,

255
00:20:59,570 --> 00:21:03,170
but equally, she's the one who is,
in the ancient tradition

256
00:21:03,170 --> 00:21:05,530
of the biblical narrative,
for example,

257
00:21:05,530 --> 00:21:08,450
the Virgin and her Hortus Conclusus.

258
00:21:08,450 --> 00:21:11,730
That underpins a lot of the imagery
of the woman in the garden, still,

259
00:21:11,730 --> 00:21:13,050
in the 19th century.

260
00:21:13,050 --> 00:21:15,810
And he's maybe just blurring
those boundaries

261
00:21:15,810 --> 00:21:18,370
so that we don't quite know
if the woman

262
00:21:18,370 --> 00:21:21,610
is in the traditional mode
of a virgin in a garden,

263
00:21:21,610 --> 00:21:23,490
or in a rather more risque mode,

264
00:21:23,490 --> 00:21:25,810
because conservatories
were certainly places

265
00:21:25,810 --> 00:21:30,090
where seduction and all sorts
of licence was happening.

266
00:21:30,090 --> 00:21:32,730
It was a space,
the garden itself, in turn,

267
00:21:32,730 --> 00:21:35,130
where you might dispense
with etiquette

268
00:21:35,130 --> 00:21:38,570
that would've ruled in the drawing
room or the parlour, salon.

269
00:21:38,570 --> 00:21:42,010
So there are, I think,
little hints maybe that Tissot

270
00:21:42,010 --> 00:21:44,730
is manipulating the tradition
and not just giving us

271
00:21:44,730 --> 00:21:47,450
a standard version of a woman
in a garden.

272
00:21:47,450 --> 00:21:50,970
Here we've got chrysanthemums,
which were plants introduced

273
00:21:50,970 --> 00:21:53,730
in 1789 to Europe.

274
00:21:53,730 --> 00:21:56,530
They came from the Orient,
from China, Japan,

275
00:21:56,530 --> 00:22:00,530
and they were
an immediate sensation, really,

276
00:22:00,530 --> 00:22:04,490
and developed into a whole variety
of forms and shapes,

277
00:22:04,490 --> 00:22:07,690
and there was a great art
in picking them, cutting them

278
00:22:07,690 --> 00:22:10,650
so that you would develop the best
for the next year.

279
00:22:10,650 --> 00:22:13,530
You could also take various
other forms of growth

280
00:22:13,530 --> 00:22:14,650
and make them come on.

281
00:22:16,610 --> 00:22:21,290
I always find looking at paintings
of gardens or flowers,

282
00:22:21,290 --> 00:22:25,170
you can usually tell fairly quickly
if the person who's painted it

283
00:22:25,170 --> 00:22:28,410
has a real interest in the subject.

284
00:22:28,410 --> 00:22:33,170
There's something about the way they
depict the flowers in particular,

285
00:22:33,170 --> 00:22:35,330
I suppose the form
of the whole plant,

286
00:22:35,330 --> 00:22:37,650
they are able to honour the plant.

287
00:22:37,650 --> 00:22:40,370
They're interested enough in it
as an entity,

288
00:22:40,370 --> 00:22:43,450
as a being in the world,
if you like,

289
00:22:43,450 --> 00:22:46,770
to actually spend an awful lot
of time over it,

290
00:22:46,770 --> 00:22:48,370
just as much time
as they might spend

291
00:22:48,370 --> 00:22:50,570
over a portrait of a person.

292
00:22:50,570 --> 00:22:54,370
But in some cases, most notably
in Monet's case, of course,

293
00:22:54,370 --> 00:22:58,570
the garden itself becomes
an artwork in its own right.

294
00:23:31,690 --> 00:23:35,370
"If I could see one day
Claude Monet's garden,

295
00:23:35,370 --> 00:23:38,050
"I really feel I would see a garden

296
00:23:38,050 --> 00:23:41,570
"in more tones and colour
than flowers."

297
00:23:41,570 --> 00:23:44,290
"A garden which could be less
an old flower garden

298
00:23:44,290 --> 00:23:47,930
"than a colourist garden,
so to speak."

299
00:23:47,930 --> 00:23:50,730
"Flowers displayed together
but not as nature,

300
00:23:50,730 --> 00:23:53,810
"because they were sown
so that only the flowers

301
00:23:53,810 --> 00:23:56,650
"with matching colours
will bloom at the same time...

302
00:23:58,130 --> 00:24:02,450
"..harmonised to the infinite
in all ranges of blue or pink."

303
00:24:04,130 --> 00:24:07,250
"A powerful manifestation
of the artist's intent

304
00:24:07,250 --> 00:24:11,690
"to dematerialise them
of everything but colour."

305
00:24:28,010 --> 00:24:29,730
Well, there are both modern gardens

306
00:24:29,730 --> 00:24:31,930
and there's modern paintings
of gardens,

307
00:24:31,930 --> 00:24:34,410
and there's a great variety,
there's a tremendous variety.

308
00:24:34,410 --> 00:24:38,330
For Monet,
it's growing new types of plants,

309
00:24:38,330 --> 00:24:41,490
new more spectacular varieties
of flowers,

310
00:24:41,490 --> 00:24:44,410
arranging them specifically
in colour harmony

311
00:24:44,410 --> 00:24:47,450
so he's orchestrating environments
so that they're blooming

312
00:24:47,450 --> 00:24:50,530
in different colours
at different times of the year.

313
00:24:51,650 --> 00:24:52,730
For other artists,

314
00:24:52,730 --> 00:24:55,610
it's the way they interpret
the garden that's modern.

315
00:24:55,610 --> 00:24:57,530
We hope that people coming
to the exhibition

316
00:24:57,530 --> 00:25:02,650
will get great pleasure from seeing
a number of spectacular works of art

317
00:25:02,650 --> 00:25:05,730
by famous and well-known artists.

318
00:25:05,730 --> 00:25:08,370
Monet of course is really
the heart of the exhibition,

319
00:25:08,370 --> 00:25:13,130
but also works by Matisse,
by other Impressionist artists,

320
00:25:13,130 --> 00:25:15,770
and then there's Bonnard's garden
at Vernonnet,

321
00:25:15,770 --> 00:25:18,930
which is up in Normandy
on the Seine,

322
00:25:18,930 --> 00:25:22,370
only about three miles from Giverny,
in fact.

323
00:25:22,370 --> 00:25:24,370
But it couldn't be a more different

324
00:25:24,370 --> 00:25:28,610
from Monet's very carefully planned
and designed garden.

325
00:25:28,610 --> 00:25:32,050
Bonnard really just let nature
take its course.

326
00:25:32,050 --> 00:25:35,210
He called it "mon jardin sauvage",
"my wild garden",

327
00:25:35,210 --> 00:25:39,170
and when you go there today,
there is very little evidence

328
00:25:39,170 --> 00:25:41,530
of a formal garden, certainly.

329
00:25:41,530 --> 00:25:44,970
But nevertheless, this garden
with its panoramic view

330
00:25:44,970 --> 00:25:47,610
out to the Seine beyond
is the setting

331
00:25:47,610 --> 00:25:49,530
of many of Bonnard's paintings.

332
00:26:01,490 --> 00:26:05,050
We have many paintings too
by perhaps less familiar names,

333
00:26:05,050 --> 00:26:09,050
but artists who really responded
to the theme of the garden

334
00:26:09,050 --> 00:26:10,890
in many different ways.

335
00:26:10,890 --> 00:26:14,050
Max Liebermann made a garden
on Lake Wannsee

336
00:26:14,050 --> 00:26:15,970
just outside of Berlin.

337
00:26:17,050 --> 00:26:20,290
Liebermann's garden
follows this idea,

338
00:26:20,290 --> 00:26:22,690
current in German design
at the time,

339
00:26:22,690 --> 00:26:27,570
of constructing the garden
around a series of outdoor rooms.

340
00:26:27,570 --> 00:26:30,690
So there's a rose garden,
there's a hedge garden,

341
00:26:30,690 --> 00:26:34,930
there's a kitchen garden
at the back of the house,

342
00:26:34,930 --> 00:26:39,490
and then there are formal flowerbeds
and a long birch alley,

343
00:26:39,490 --> 00:26:42,130
which leads as a sort of avenue
down to a lake,

344
00:26:42,130 --> 00:26:44,490
providing these viewpoints
and perspectives.

345
00:30:49,210 --> 00:30:52,130
So there are many different ways
in which gardens could be organised,

346
00:30:52,130 --> 00:30:54,690
and artists were really
searching for something

347
00:30:54,690 --> 00:30:57,770
that was particular to them
and their culture.

348
00:30:57,770 --> 00:30:59,490
Sorolla, for example, in Spain

349
00:30:59,490 --> 00:31:02,010
laid out an interior
courtyard garden

350
00:31:02,010 --> 00:31:07,130
in a series of rooms in his house,
and he had pools and water.

351
00:31:07,130 --> 00:31:10,010
This was a place of reflection,
for family life,

352
00:31:10,010 --> 00:31:12,130
but also for spiritual thinking.

353
00:34:17,010 --> 00:34:20,450
One of the questions
you might ask yourself,

354
00:34:20,450 --> 00:34:21,930
even subconsciously,

355
00:34:21,930 --> 00:34:24,570
standing in front of one
of these paintings is,

356
00:34:24,570 --> 00:34:30,610
"Do I believe this is a real place,
does this garden actually exist?"

357
00:34:30,610 --> 00:34:32,210
And in the case of a painting
like this,

358
00:34:32,210 --> 00:34:35,090
it is absolutely the case,
but I think in a way,

359
00:34:35,090 --> 00:34:38,450
the question isn't so much,
"Does that garden exist?",

360
00:34:38,450 --> 00:34:40,730
but "Did that moment exist?"

361
00:34:40,730 --> 00:34:43,250
In an earlier age,
this picture would have been called

362
00:34:43,250 --> 00:34:45,930
a "swagger" painting,
because it shows

363
00:34:45,930 --> 00:34:49,850
a very successful man
in his white suit

364
00:34:49,850 --> 00:34:53,890
at his weekend home on Long Island,
just outside New York.

365
00:34:53,890 --> 00:34:57,210
It's Louis Comfort Tiffany,
the famous designer,

366
00:34:57,210 --> 00:35:02,330
so he's painting, he's showing us
his artistic side and his skill,

367
00:35:02,330 --> 00:35:05,370
but this is a very successful man.

368
00:35:05,370 --> 00:35:07,330
And the flowers,
I think, interestingly,

369
00:35:07,330 --> 00:35:11,370
are used in this painting by Sorolla
as a way of bolstering

370
00:35:11,370 --> 00:35:13,570
his credentials
as a man of the world,

371
00:35:13,570 --> 00:35:17,490
they're almost machismo,
these blooms.

372
00:35:17,490 --> 00:35:21,330
I think actually
they are mainly hydrangeas

373
00:35:21,330 --> 00:35:24,450
massed behind him
in different colours,

374
00:35:24,450 --> 00:35:27,130
but their bulbous blooms....

375
00:35:27,130 --> 00:35:29,930
It's almost like he's
the sort of artistic Napoleon

376
00:35:29,930 --> 00:35:32,890
and this is his imperial guard
backing him up behind

377
00:35:32,890 --> 00:35:34,170
with his dog as well,

378
00:35:34,170 --> 00:35:35,930
and all these accoutrements,
if you like,

379
00:35:35,930 --> 00:35:38,010
of the country gentleman,

380
00:35:38,010 --> 00:35:40,130
you might see in a Gainsborough
or something.

381
00:36:32,120 --> 00:36:34,360
For more avant-garde artists,

382
00:36:34,360 --> 00:36:38,240
flowers and gardens were a source
of emotional inspiration.

383
00:36:38,240 --> 00:36:40,800
They're not so much interested
in whether it's a hyacinth,

384
00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:44,800
but for many of these artists
like Matisse or Emil Nolde,

385
00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:46,080
it's really the colour.

386
00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:52,800
Emil Nolde created gardens
wherever he lived,

387
00:36:52,800 --> 00:36:54,480
and they were a great inspiration
to him.

388
00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:57,160
I think the act of gardening
also was very spiritual

389
00:36:57,160 --> 00:36:58,760
and important to him.

390
00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:01,080
His last garden was created
in Seebull,

391
00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:04,000
which is on the border of Denmark
and Germany.

392
00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:06,600
And he designed his garden

393
00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:10,840
so that the paths created
two entwined letters

394
00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:13,240
that are the initials of himself
and his wife,

395
00:37:13,240 --> 00:37:15,280
so you know how personal this garden
was to him.

396
00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:17,640
And it was the great source
of inspiration for his art

397
00:37:17,640 --> 00:37:22,000
for the last 20 years of his life
or so, and it still exists today.

398
00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:53,400
I was really intrigued
by Emil Nolde's garden at Seebull,

399
00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:56,920
because he
built this jewel-like place,

400
00:37:56,920 --> 00:37:58,560
this fantasy realm.

401
00:37:58,560 --> 00:38:03,760
He didn't really create the garden
as a place to be experienced

402
00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:07,200
as a series of pictures,
as a tableau,

403
00:38:07,200 --> 00:38:10,840
he created the garden
as an intense space

404
00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:13,800
in which you are immersed,
and that's the feeling

405
00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:16,040
that you have when you go
into the garden today.

406
00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:19,360
There are a series of winding paths
around beds,

407
00:38:19,360 --> 00:38:22,600
which are absolutely chock-filled
with all kinds

408
00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:25,320
of bright and colourful flowers
which have not been,

409
00:38:25,320 --> 00:38:27,000
and we can see this
in the paintings,

410
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:30,560
which were not chosen
for their compatibility

411
00:38:30,560 --> 00:38:31,920
with each other, necessarily,

412
00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:35,640
but chosen for the incredible
colours that they exhibit,

413
00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:40,000
and which Nolde was then able
to experiment with in paint.

414
00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:43,240
Emil Nolde is an artist
who is very invested

415
00:38:43,240 --> 00:38:44,600
in the project of modernity,

416
00:38:44,600 --> 00:38:46,560
and he wants to paint
in a certain way

417
00:38:46,560 --> 00:38:48,880
that's very basic, it's primal.

418
00:38:48,880 --> 00:38:51,520
He wants to get
at the most basic level

419
00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:53,720
of intense human emotion,

420
00:38:53,720 --> 00:38:56,080
and he uses a technique
that is meant to convey that.

421
00:38:56,080 --> 00:38:58,720
For example, if you look
at his paintings from the '20s,

422
00:38:58,720 --> 00:39:03,400
he paints on very rough burlap,
it's really rugged,

423
00:39:03,400 --> 00:39:06,640
and he paints
with incredibly heavy brushstrokes,

424
00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:08,600
I mean, just caked-on paint.

425
00:39:08,600 --> 00:39:10,320
And if you'll notice,
it is very matte,

426
00:39:10,320 --> 00:39:12,880
and that's partly because
when you're painting with oil,

427
00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:14,560
the oil soaks into that,

428
00:39:14,560 --> 00:39:17,640
and he leaves these
very heavily encrusted surfaces.

429
00:39:17,640 --> 00:39:20,120
It's very rough and rugged,

430
00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:22,160
and it's very shocking
to many people

431
00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:24,760
to see a painting in that condition,
but that's what he wanted.

432
00:39:24,760 --> 00:39:27,320
He wanted something
that wasn't refined.

433
00:39:27,320 --> 00:39:29,520
I mean, he was the enemy
of the refined,

434
00:39:29,520 --> 00:39:32,800
and he wanted that sense
of rawness and intense emotion

435
00:39:32,800 --> 00:39:33,920
in his paintings.

436
00:39:38,400 --> 00:39:41,360
I think for many of these artists,
this was a spiritual experience.

437
00:39:41,360 --> 00:39:43,720
For them, it was a connection
with nature.

438
00:39:43,720 --> 00:39:46,160
It is kind of amazing to think
that artists

439
00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:49,800
like Matisse or Kandinsky,
who are so theoretical,

440
00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:51,560
would be interested in nature
in this way,

441
00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:53,480
but it was their way of connecting.

442
00:39:53,480 --> 00:39:54,560
And, for example,

443
00:39:54,560 --> 00:39:57,280
there's a fantastic painting
in this exhibition

444
00:39:57,280 --> 00:40:01,880
that is of a garden in Tangier,
and Matisse had for years

445
00:40:01,880 --> 00:40:06,880
been painting very conceptual works,
severe in their geometry.

446
00:40:06,880 --> 00:40:08,920
And he said specifically,
when he wrote a letter,

447
00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:11,720
requesting permission to see
this Islamic garden,

448
00:40:11,720 --> 00:40:14,160
that he wanted to reconnect
with nature.

449
00:40:14,160 --> 00:40:17,560
And he was extremely excited
about this garden

450
00:40:17,560 --> 00:40:19,880
that he saw in North Africa,
through the wildness,

451
00:40:19,880 --> 00:40:21,000
the exotic plants,

452
00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:24,120
and he painted the first
of three pictures,

453
00:40:24,120 --> 00:40:26,000
which the first one
is in this exhibition,

454
00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:27,920
in a flash of inspiration.

455
00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:32,640
It's just quickly-applied paint,
you can still see pencil drawing,

456
00:40:32,640 --> 00:40:34,560
he even took the backside
of the brush

457
00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:36,480
and scratched into the surface.

458
00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:39,920
And it's just an explosion
of colour and emotion,

459
00:40:39,920 --> 00:40:41,640
so it was very important
for Matisse,

460
00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:45,040
and for some of these other artists,
who were thinking so theoretically,

461
00:40:45,040 --> 00:40:47,280
to find a way to connect
with nature,

462
00:40:47,280 --> 00:40:49,800
and gardens provided
that opportunity.

463
00:40:49,800 --> 00:40:54,160
For the Fauves artists, of course,
whose greatest contribution

464
00:40:54,160 --> 00:40:57,120
to modern art was arbitrary colour,

465
00:40:57,120 --> 00:41:00,720
they could be inspired
by the intensity of these tones,

466
00:41:00,720 --> 00:41:02,520
and Matisse wrote evocatively
about that.

467
00:41:04,040 --> 00:41:07,520
For Matisse, we know that
he did have a garden at his home,

468
00:41:07,520 --> 00:41:10,280
he spent a lot of time in it.

469
00:41:10,280 --> 00:41:13,840
We're told he greeted visitors
wearing a gardener's smock,

470
00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:15,600
he would give them flowers
for presents,

471
00:41:15,600 --> 00:41:20,480
he would use them for inspiration
and for setting colour theory.

472
00:41:20,480 --> 00:41:22,480
And then, even into later life,

473
00:41:22,480 --> 00:41:26,680
Matisse wrote that
when he was confined to his studio

474
00:41:26,680 --> 00:41:28,200
or ill for some reason,

475
00:41:28,200 --> 00:41:31,040
he would turn his studio
into a garden.

476
00:41:31,040 --> 00:41:34,640
And you can see his studio
with these wild-growing,

477
00:41:34,640 --> 00:41:38,920
sometimes exotic, plants
imported from Mexico.

478
00:41:38,920 --> 00:41:42,480
And it was a constant source
of inspiration for him.

479
00:41:42,480 --> 00:41:44,680
And even if you look
at the late paper cut-outs,

480
00:41:44,680 --> 00:41:47,440
you can see these large paintings
of bushes and gardens

481
00:41:47,440 --> 00:41:48,800
and plants and flowers.

482
00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:53,280
And it was crucial for Matisse's
artistic inspiration,

483
00:41:53,280 --> 00:41:56,240
and I also think
his spiritual and mental health.

484
00:43:03,920 --> 00:43:07,960
There's a very close connection
between Monet the gardener

485
00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:12,240
and Monet the painter,
and this painting of day lilies

486
00:43:12,240 --> 00:43:17,200
is wonderful for the fact
that he has really captured

487
00:43:17,200 --> 00:43:20,640
what the day lily is all about.

488
00:43:20,640 --> 00:43:25,680
And there's something very vigorous
about this painting,

489
00:43:25,680 --> 00:43:29,000
the way that you have this explosion
of leaves

490
00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:31,840
that are so particular
to day lilies,

491
00:43:31,840 --> 00:43:37,720
and then this suspense with the stem
that then supports the flower

492
00:43:37,720 --> 00:43:39,920
that only blooms for a day,

493
00:43:39,920 --> 00:43:45,360
and when it does,
it peels itself back facing the sky,

494
00:43:45,360 --> 00:43:49,440
and absorbs all that light
in this brilliant moment,

495
00:43:49,440 --> 00:43:53,680
this flash of orange
which he has then contrasted

496
00:43:53,680 --> 00:43:58,840
against these cooler mauves
and greens behind,

497
00:43:58,840 --> 00:44:02,520
so you get that flare
which happens with this plant

498
00:44:02,520 --> 00:44:06,760
that's so absolutely particular
to that plant.

499
00:44:06,760 --> 00:44:10,800
And I just love
how beautifully observed this is

500
00:44:10,800 --> 00:44:16,840
and I can really feel how well
he's understood those plants

501
00:44:16,840 --> 00:44:20,640
and how they've actually made
this part of his garden

502
00:44:20,640 --> 00:44:22,240
into what it is,

503
00:44:22,240 --> 00:44:26,640
it's probably why you go to
that particular part of the garden,

504
00:44:26,640 --> 00:44:29,320
just to be there
with those day lilies

505
00:44:29,320 --> 00:44:30,680
when they're doing their thing.

506
00:44:34,040 --> 00:44:37,640
MAN AS MONET: "I have painted a lot
of these water lilies,

507
00:44:37,640 --> 00:44:39,920
"modifying each time
my point of view,

508
00:44:39,920 --> 00:44:43,880
"renewing the subject
following seasons of the year,

509
00:44:43,880 --> 00:44:46,480
"and therefore,
following different luminous effects

510
00:44:46,480 --> 00:44:48,120
"engendered by these changes."

511
00:44:49,720 --> 00:44:51,840
"The effect varies incessantly."

512
00:44:53,360 --> 00:44:56,440
"The essential of the subject
is the mirror of the water

513
00:44:56,440 --> 00:45:00,240
"whose aspect, at any one time,
changes itself

514
00:45:00,240 --> 00:45:04,000
"thanks to the expanses of sky
which reflect in it,

515
00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:06,560
"and spreading life and movement."

516
00:45:07,840 --> 00:45:10,880
"The passing cloud,
the freshening breeze,

517
00:45:10,880 --> 00:45:14,080
"the threatening and falling rain,

518
00:45:14,080 --> 00:45:16,000
"the sudden gust of wind,

519
00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:19,200
"the light failing
and shining again."

520
00:45:19,200 --> 00:45:22,160
"So many reasons,
elusive to the profane eye,

521
00:45:22,160 --> 00:45:26,640
"which transform the tint
and disfigure the body of water."

522
00:45:29,480 --> 00:45:32,640
This exhibition originated
with the desire to reunite

523
00:45:32,640 --> 00:45:35,960
the three panels of Monet's
great Agapanthus triptych.

524
00:45:35,960 --> 00:45:37,960
Monet, though,
never gave those paintings away

525
00:45:37,960 --> 00:45:40,200
during his lifetime,
he kept them all in the studio.

526
00:45:40,200 --> 00:45:41,800
He was constantly reworking them,

527
00:45:41,800 --> 00:45:44,440
making them more abstract
and ethereal,

528
00:45:44,440 --> 00:45:47,880
it's really amazing to see
an artist at his age

529
00:45:47,880 --> 00:45:50,400
reworking these great masterworks.

530
00:45:50,400 --> 00:45:52,680
And he died then in 1926,

531
00:45:52,680 --> 00:45:56,040
and a selection of paintings
were taken off their stretchers,

532
00:45:56,040 --> 00:45:57,400
moved to the Orangerie,

533
00:45:57,400 --> 00:46:00,040
and literally glued
to the walls there.

534
00:46:00,040 --> 00:46:03,600
But many of the great decorations
remained in the studio

535
00:46:03,600 --> 00:46:06,200
and, in fact,
that's true of this triptych,

536
00:46:06,200 --> 00:46:08,840
it remained with his family
until the 1950s

537
00:46:08,840 --> 00:46:11,280
when the paintings
were sent to America

538
00:46:11,280 --> 00:46:14,640
and bought separately by different
museums in the United States.

539
00:46:14,640 --> 00:46:17,320
So reuniting this triptych
is a major event,

540
00:46:17,320 --> 00:46:18,800
this is the first time
that we know of

541
00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:20,160
it's ever happened in Europe,

542
00:46:20,160 --> 00:46:22,080
and it's spectacular
to see them together.

543
00:46:22,080 --> 00:46:24,520
And they made us
really think deeply about,

544
00:46:24,520 --> 00:46:28,000
not only Monet's
great Agapanthus triptych,

545
00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:31,320
but also about his interest
in gardening and painting gardens

546
00:46:31,320 --> 00:46:34,640
because, of course, they depict
the great water garden at Giverny

547
00:46:34,640 --> 00:46:36,800
which is one
of the great accomplishments

548
00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:38,120
in the history of horticulture.

549
00:46:40,440 --> 00:46:43,160
MAN AS MONET: "What I am becoming,
you can well imagine."

550
00:46:44,520 --> 00:46:47,560
"I am working
and not without difficulty,

551
00:46:47,560 --> 00:46:49,520
"because my sight diminishes
each day

552
00:46:49,520 --> 00:46:52,920
"and, also,
I look after my garden a lot."

553
00:46:52,920 --> 00:46:57,840
"This brings me pleasure, and
with the beautiful days we have had,

554
00:46:57,840 --> 00:47:01,280
"I am overjoyed and admire nature."

555
00:47:01,280 --> 00:47:04,360
"With this, we never have time
to be bored."

556
00:47:08,160 --> 00:47:12,680
As Monet got older,
he became more concerned

557
00:47:12,680 --> 00:47:16,800
with abstracting the world around us

558
00:47:16,800 --> 00:47:19,840
and trying to look closer,
and closer and closer

559
00:47:19,840 --> 00:47:24,920
at how colour was shaping,
in an abstract sense,

560
00:47:24,920 --> 00:47:27,200
how we see the world.

561
00:47:27,200 --> 00:47:31,040
So his series of paintings
of water lilies

562
00:47:31,040 --> 00:47:35,480
are the most profound test
of him as an artist,

563
00:47:35,480 --> 00:47:37,800
forcing himself to look...

564
00:47:37,800 --> 00:47:39,840
And that is the hardest thing
about an artist,

565
00:47:39,840 --> 00:47:42,440
the older you get, the more
you think you've looked enough

566
00:47:42,440 --> 00:47:44,440
to know exactly
what's in front of you.

567
00:47:44,440 --> 00:47:49,680
And as he considers
his great lily ponds here,

568
00:47:49,680 --> 00:47:52,120
you notice through the series
of paintings

569
00:47:52,120 --> 00:47:58,400
that his point of view begins
to move more and more and more away

570
00:47:58,400 --> 00:48:02,920
from a recognisable subject,
away from a sense of a painting

571
00:48:02,920 --> 00:48:04,800
receding into the distance
towards a horizon

572
00:48:04,800 --> 00:48:07,440
where there is a neat little bridge
focusing your point of view,

573
00:48:07,440 --> 00:48:11,240
and increasingly,
it's just about reflections,

574
00:48:11,240 --> 00:48:14,360
patterns of light and colour.

575
00:48:14,360 --> 00:48:16,720
But the more I work
into one of these paintings,

576
00:48:16,720 --> 00:48:19,760
I become more and more intrigued
by the things that are appearing

577
00:48:19,760 --> 00:48:21,960
in the reflections in the water.

578
00:48:21,960 --> 00:48:25,640
And as Monet spent
more and more time here,

579
00:48:25,640 --> 00:48:28,160
I guess that's what became
his passion.

580
00:48:28,160 --> 00:48:31,040
He didn't need a bridge anymore,
he didn't need a tree trunk.

581
00:48:31,040 --> 00:48:34,360
All he needed were ripples
and cascades of light,

582
00:48:34,360 --> 00:48:39,400
and that's a real push
in the history of 20th century art

583
00:48:39,400 --> 00:48:40,800
towards modernism.

584
00:49:12,880 --> 00:49:14,880
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