A century ago, a Country diary entry from Cornwall celebrated the vibrant magenta hues of wild flowers, noting how the landscape would have captivated Claude Monet. The French Impressionist, known for his fascination with color, would have found joy in the blue-green and violet-pink combinations found in the region's flora.
Foxgloves and the perfect colour chord
The diary, published on 10 July 1926, observed that many of the most effective wild flowers are colored magenta, more or less intensely. While the shade known as 'foxglove pink' is often considered garish in wool, against rock or sky, it perfectly completes the colour chord. The spikes of foxgloves, backed by a hazy sea, were said to delight Monet, who was always on the lookout for his blue-green with violet-pink.
Rhododendrons and other magenta blooms
The diary also noted the masses of rhododendron ponticum that had just faded on the moor, their colour becoming more appropriate the better one knows it. It recalled Monet's painting of a lilac tree at dusk, with grass blue-green under violet plumes. Thrift, thyme, heather, ling, loosestrife, and various geraniums contribute colours of this series in broad masses, while spring and summer orchises, knapweeds, and many more bring touches of this colour.
A thug out of control
A watercourse full of loose-strife mixed with yellow musk would not, the diary speculated, be Monet's choice. However, the sparks of yellow potentilla among the heather and the daring splashes of orange lichen that enliven the cliff where thrift grows thickest would likely have been appreciated by the artist.
This reflection on Cornwall's wild flowers, written nearly a century ago, underscores the enduring appeal of the region's natural palette and its resonance with one of history's great colorists.
