This month of May has been more like March, with constant gusts of wind and rain, so visiting the museum at Giverny today was a tonic. Gardens brought indoors! On top of that, it was exciting to venture out to Normandy after a long, long winter of confinement, to visit beautiful villages like Vetheuil, where Joan Mitchell lived. But also Fourges, with its beautiful restaurant and mill, and La Roche-Guyon, with its castle affixed to the chalk cliffs.

And at Giverny, the rain even stopped long enough for us to eat in the patio of Baudy, which used to be the hotel painters would stay in.

Once inside the museum, the expressive painting by Mary Cassatt struck me. The complementary colors of fall, the vivid brushwork, but not only. The pallor of her sister lost in thought presages her death soon after, and the mood is distinct from many of Cassatt’s scenes of women and children.

And then there are more uplifting paintings like Jardin en Fleurs, full of light and color, painted with the exacting hand of young Monet.

Whom we see evolve towards more abstract paintings that are so iconic.

Joan Mitchell’s monumental, immersive symphony of color shows so much similarity to later Monet. It is probably not serendipitous that she lived near Giverny for some time!

There were many pieces by Bonnard, and here we can enjoy his graphic patterns and colors.

But the most surprising painting to me was this study by Vuillard, with its delicate layering of glazes, sketch-like quality with loose brushwork, intimate feel, and near obliteration of figurative elements like the table and figure in the background. In an exhibition full of color, this was different. Restrained yet unrestrained, it brought me in. Unfortunately the vividness is lost in the photo, which goes to show—you have to see it in person!