Claude Monet\u2019s waterlily paintings are among some of the world\u2019s most celebrated impressionist works. To the artist himself, however, they weren\u2019t his greatest achievement. Rather, it was the garden in Giverny, France, where he lived and painted for 43 years. \u201cMy garden is my most beautiful masterpiece,\u201d he once said. It has been 150 years since the radical exhibition in Paris that launched impressionism on the world\u2014celebrated by the National Gallery of Art\u2019s new show,\u00a0\u201cParis 1874: The Impressionist Moment\u201d<\/a>\u2014but impressionistic gardens remain as appealing as ever.<\/p>\n The gardens the impressionist artists painted were considered just as radical as their works on canvas. In contrast to the formal geometries of the classical gardens that dominated Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, the impressionists celebrated a less structured approach. Luxurious homes, contemporary and historic alike, continue to embrace this style today\u2014think ponds and pools nestled within gardens dominated by vibrant splashes of seasonal color and texture.<\/p>\n Take, for example, a home currently on the market in Santa Rosa, California. Situated on 13 acres in the rolling hills of Sonoma Wine Country, the lush gardens feature winding paths and cascading beds planted with native grasses and wildflowers that frame a swimming pool\u2014showcasing how an impressionistic garden can complement the clean, architectural lines of a contemporary home.<\/p>\n Caragh House in Kildare, Ireland, meanwhile, has a similarly impressive garden, set around a charming historic country abode that was built in 1880. Here, rose bushes wrap around patio supports and adorn the picturesque white walls of the home, offering splashes of brilliant color within the landscape. The interior borrows this view, with enormous windows that frame the garden and large doors that open out to dissolve the line between inside and out.<\/p>\n Award-winning British garden designer Jo Thompson is renowned for her impressionistic approach, which embraces romance and imaginative color combinations. \u201cPlanting is soft, relaxed in manner and painterly in style,\u201d she says of her gardens. \u201cHouses are allowed to settle into their space, while nature settles in all around.\u201d<\/p>\n To create a garden worthy of the impressionists, Thompson advocates retaining a \u201ctouch of mystery\u201d to offer moments of surprise and delight as the garden reveals itself. \u201cYou can do this even in a tiny courtyard by abandoning the standard rule that high planting goes at the back and low at the front,\u201d she explains. \u201cBringing a flower bed closer to the window and filling it with tall plants that have \u2018naked\u2019 stems\u2014such as the spindly, purple-flowered\u00a0Verbena bonariensis<\/i>\u2014will create a gorgeous haze that forms a veil over the rest of the space beyond, softening the immediate impact.\u201d<\/p>\n In long, narrow gardens, she often staggers hedges and flower beds along the space, meaning the garden must be explored to be fully appreciated. \u201cThe concept is always the same: Keep in mind the sense of enigma and surprise,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Lands End Manor in Locust Valley, New York, creates this sense of joyful wonder by layering wildflower gardens against swathes of lawn and sweeping ocean views. The gardens, designed by famed American landscape architect and journalist Frederick Law Olmsted in 1920, also incorporate a walled rose garden, vegetable gardens and grapevines trained up arbors, all woven together in harmony.<\/p>\n As Thompson says, \u201cThe key is a gentle approach. In any garden\u2014whether a city courtyard or a countryside landscape\u2014I use local materials that sit in harmony with the vernacular. It is more natural and creates a garden that feels as if it should be there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 150 years after impressionism changed the art world, the painterly gardens that inspired its famous artists continue to influence architects and designers, writes Mandi Keighran. Locust Valley, New York\u00a0|\u00a0Daniel Gale Sotheby\u2019s International Realty Claude Monet\u2019s waterlily paintings are among some of the world\u2019s most celebrated impressionist works. To the artist himself, however, they weren\u2019t his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64295786,"featured_media":5220,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1364,1375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-distinctive-destinations","category-farm-and-ranch-properties"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfNAsR-1m9","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.sothebysrealty.com\/steamboatsir\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image3.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sothebysrealty.com\/steamboatsir\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sothebysrealty.com\/steamboatsir\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sothebysrealty.com\/steamboatsir\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sothebysrealty.com\/steamboatsir\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64295786"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sothebysrealty.com\/steamboatsir\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sothebysrealty.com\/steamboatsir\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sothebysrealty.com\/steamboatsir\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sothebysrealty.com\/steamboatsir\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sothebysrealty.com\/steamboatsir\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sothebysrealty.com\/steamboatsir\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static-sir-corp-blog-production.gtsstatic.net\/blog-api\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image1.jpg\")
<\/a>Santa Rosa, California<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Sotheby\u2019s International Realty \u2013 Wine Country Brokerage<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static-sir-corp-blog-production.gtsstatic.net\/blog-api\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Cote-dazur.jpg\")
<\/a>C\u00f4te d\u2019Azur Sotheby\u2019s International Realty<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static-sir-corp-blog-production.gtsstatic.net\/blog-api\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/resized.jpg\")
<\/a>Locust Valley, New York<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Daniel Gale Sotheby\u2019s International Realty<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n