{"id":7047097,"date":"2026-08-25T08:22:54","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T08:22:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/aerospace\/in-france-brutal-summer-heat-waves-are-taking-a-toll-on-the-flowers-that-inspired-claude-monets-most-beloved-paintings\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T08:22:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T08:22:54","slug":"in-france-brutal-summer-heat-waves-are-taking-a-toll-on-the-flowers-that-inspired-claude-monets-most-beloved-paintings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/?p=7047097","title":{"rendered":"In France, Brutal Summer Heat Waves Are Taking a Toll on the Flowers That Inspired Claude Monet’s Most Beloved Paintings"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The colorful nasturtiums at the artist\u2019s house and gardens have been hit particularly hard this summer as France grapples with a record 52 heatwave days<\/h2>\n
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Sarah Kuta<\/a><\/p>\n

| Daily Correspondent<\/span><\/p>\n

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Claude Monet lived in Giverny, a small village about 50 miles northwest of Paris, for more than four decades.
\n Maison et Jardins Claude Monet<\/span>
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France has endured blistering temperatures this summer, with a record 52 heatwave days<\/a>, widespread wildfires and more than 7,300<\/a> excess deaths. The extreme heat has also taken a toll on gardens, scorching plants and leaving gardeners struggling to keep their greenery alive.<\/p>\n

Even the gardens that inspired the Impressionist painter Claude Monet<\/a> have fallen victim to the heat. At the artist\u2019s house and gardens<\/a> in Giverny, a small village in Normandy, about 50 miles northwest of Paris, Monet\u2019s famous blooms are struggling to cope with this summer\u2019s extreme<\/a> temperatures<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The nasturtiums<\/a>\u2014red, orange and yellow blossoms that grow rapidly during the summer months\u2014have been hit particularly hard during periods of extreme heat, deputy head gardener R\u00e9mi Lecoutre<\/a> tells France 24<\/a>\u2019s Oliver Farry.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredibly sad,\u201d says Lecoutre, who first joined the foundation as a seasonal worker in 1988. \u201cThis is the first time it has happened to this extent. It\u2019s awful.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Did you know? Monet\u2019s legacy<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Lecoutre is one of 11 gardeners responsible for maintaining the estate\u2019s famous flowers and plants, which draw hundreds of thousands<\/a> of visitors each year. This year, the team is taking steps to combat the effects of the heat, such as grouping plants together and using mini sprinklers and underground irrigation.<\/p>\n

However, \u201csome foliage still burned,\u201d Lecoutre tells France 3<\/a>\u2019s Medhi Weber, per a translation by ARTnews<\/a><\/em>\u2019 Devorah Lauter. \u201cThere are physiological phenomena happening at the plant level. They close their stomata, and they stop flowering. So we had a lot of wilted flowers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, the team is also considering adding more heat-resilient<\/a> plant varieties, but it must balance the need to adapt to a changing climate with the garden\u2019s original character.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs it\u2019s a historic garden, it\u2019s best that these plants answer to the aesthetic criteria, and that they are as close as possible to the plants that Monet would have known,\u201d Lecoutre tells France 24.<\/p>\n

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An 1899 Monet painting of water lilies<\/p>\n

Public domain via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fortunately, the gardens\u2019 iconic water lilies<\/a> have remained largely unaffected by the heat.<\/p>\n

Monet lived in Giverny for more than four decades<\/a>, from 1883 until his death in 1926. During that time, he cultivated an extraordinary variety of plants, drawing inspiration from their colors, shapes and changing light for some of his most famous paintings.<\/p>\n

When he first arrived at the property, however, the garden was a \u201cutilitarian space,\u201d filled primarily with vegetables, herbs and cider apple trees, Lecoutre said in an interview posted on the estate\u2019s\u00a0website<\/a>. Nevertheless, Monet was \u201cstruck by the site\u2019s potential, with its lovely gentle slope and ideal orientation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the artist\u2019s favorite subjects were the water lilies<\/a> he eventually planted in a small pond on the property. He went on to paint around 250 works<\/a> featuring the flowers, many of them part of the Nymph\u00e9as<\/em><\/a>, or Water Lilies<\/em>, series.<\/p>\n

But his fascination with the floating blossoms arose slowly. As Monet once explained<\/a>, \u201cI grew them without thinking about painting them. \u2026 A landscape does not pervade your senses in one day. \u2026 Then suddenly I had a revelation and clearly saw these wonders on my pond. I took up my palette and paintbrush. And since then, I\u2019ve hardly used any other subject.\u201d<\/p>\n

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