Nov 2

Nov 2 Monet's Garden - Giverny

Growing up, I had the good fortune to live just outside Cleveland, Ohio, home to the Cleveland Museum of Art, that, not only in my opinion, is one of the best art museums in the United States.

The museum is incredibly free to the public, meaning you can visit as often as you like and get lost in its vast rooms of treasures from epochs of history all over the world. My first stop is always The Stargazer, a small statuette from Western Anatolia circa 3000 BC. I like to then delve into the cultures of ancient Egypt and various African civilizations. And before leaving, I love to head to the Impressionist wing, and sit for a few moments in front of Claude Monet’s Water Lilies.

*Water Lilies, 1919-26, by Claude Monet, at the Cleveland Museum of Art*

I felt privileged to be able to go the art museum and see this work often. It is incredibly beautiful, and one can get lost in what seems like the gentle waves rippling among the flowers.

During high school, I began my French language journey, and what would become even until now, a love of French language, culture, and scenery. Over the years, I have had the great opportunity to visit many French regions, and marvel at their beauty. And one day while visiting Paris, I finally had the opportunity to visit Giverny, the small town where Monet lived, and his garden, which is the one depicted in his famous water lily paintings.

Walking through Monet’s garden was like walking into a dream. It was completely picturesque and serene. You could feel the same serenity and the same breeze that you feel when you are just looking at one of his paintings in a museum. Each experience transports you into the other.

In the garden, there were flowers of every shape and color, many combinations that I had never seen before in my life. It was beyond my imagination.

*I had never seen tulips like this before*

Many of us go to museums and look at art to be transported into another world - another place, another time. Sometimes these places are real, and sometimes they are just imaginary. We can live in these imaginations, walk through them in our dreams and wonder about who we would be in that world. On that day, I actually got go to that place. On that day, I learned that you can step into your dreams.