Ephemeral Field Journal: Climate + Love in Claude Monet’s Garden

In the footsteps of Monet: Sarah Schorr’s captivating experiment with color, water, and still life

When Claude Monet settled in Giverny in 1883, he designed a flower garden full of impressive color compositions for observing light and time. The American artist Sarah Schorr understands Monet’s garden as a creative, living laboratory. Her images in this book were inspired by the movement of water in Monet’s garden - from the tiny teardrops of rain to the steady stream feeding the water lily pond. By collecting fallen, injured flowers in Monet’s historic green spaces, Schorr transforms them into striking works of art by bringing them to life with paint, light, paper, water, and photography: experimental still lifes. Ephemeral Field Journal is an evocative artist’s journal in which Schorr evokes the fragility of nature and illuminates the complex interplay of climate change, beauty, and loss. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Monet’s death, the project will be exhibited internationally in 2025 and 2026.

Sarah Schorr, PhD, is an American artist with a studio based in Denmark. A captivation with light, water, and modes of embodied contemplation runs through her work. She is currently artist-in-residence at the CSWR at Harvard Divinity School and she has received fellowships from The Terra Foundation of American Art and The Versailles Foundation Munn Artist Program to work in Claude Monet’s garden for her Ephemeral Field Journal project.