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Normandy : Fondation Claude Monet, Giverny

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Fondation Claude Monet, Giverny

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  • Travelling by train between Vernon and Gagny in April 1883, Monet spotted Giverny through the window. It was love at first sight, and he moved here with Alice Hoschedé as swiftly as possible. He planted his garden so that he could paint in every season. He considered it his masterpiece, a painting of dazzling colours created with nature. After his death, the house and gardens fell into disrepair, but between 1977 and 1980 the Académie des Beaux-Arts restored them to their original condition – a living memorial to Monet and his work.

    More on Artists in Normandy
Top 10 Highlights
  • Water Garden 1. Water Garden
    1. Water Garden

    Exotic, asymmetrical, Monet’s water garden is a place for calm contemplation of nature, amongst a gentle riot of plant life: rhododendrons, weeping willows, water lilies, and much more.

  • Japanese Bridge 2. Japanese Bridge
    2. Japanese Bridge

    This famous, wisteria-draped bridge reflects Monet’s abiding interest in Japanese prints, many of them in the Pink House collection.

  • 3. Clos Normand

    Monet’s French-style garden is a triumph of symmetry, colour and judicious planting, with flowers in bloom all season.

  • Pink House 4. Pink House
    4. Pink House

    In this charming pink stucco house, Monet entertained Cézanne, Renoir, Matisse and other famous artists of his time, as well as his good friend Georges Clemenceau.

  • 5. Japanese Prints

    Monet’s precious woodblock prints are hung in several rooms, according to a plan drawn up by Monet himself.

  • 6. Sitting Room-Studio

    Monet used to come to his simply furnished studio after dinner to relax, smoke, and examine his day’s work.

  • 7. Monet’s Bedroom

    The room where Monet slept for 43 years, and eventually died, still has most of its original furniture, including a fine 18th-century inlaid desk. Endearingly, Monet kept works by the artists he most admired in his bedroom: among them Cézanne, Renoir, Manet, Pissarro and Rodin – a collection now scattered worldwide.

  • 8. Dining Room

    Imagine Monet, together with Alice Hoschedé, her children and visiting artists, seated around the large dining table in this perfectly restored room, painted in two shades of yellow, with faïence plates and Japanese prints on the walls, and vestiges of the dinner service in two dressers.

  • 9. Kitchen

    Little seems to have changed over the past century in this delightful room – an extension built by Monet, with blue-and-white-tiled walls, a handsome cast-iron range, butler’s sink, terracotta floor, and burnished copper pots and pans.

  • 10. Water Lily Studio

    His sight affected by cataracts, Monet built this large, light studio between 1914 and 1916, to work on his water lily series. It now houses the shop of the Fondation Claude Monet.

Practical Information
For refreshment, try Hôtel Baudy (81 rue Claude Monet), or the café of the Musée d’Art Américain. Avoid the crowds by visiting early or late in the season. 84 rue Claude Monet, 27620 Giverny 02 32 51 28 21 www.fondationmonet.com Open Apr–Oct: 9:30am–6pm Tue–Sun Admission €5.50; gardens only, students €4; under-12s, disabled €3; house only €1.50; -under-7s free Musée d’Art Américain: 99 rue Claude Monet 02 32 51 94 65 www.maag.org. Open early Mar–May, mid-Jul–mid-Aug, Sep–Oct: 10am–6pm Tue–Sun; May–mid-Jul: 9:30am– 6:30pm Tue–Sun; Nov: 10am–6pm Thu–Sun. Closed 2nd half Aug Admission €5.50; concessions €4; 12- to 18-year-olds €3; under-12s free
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