Monet's Garden
The impressionist artist Claude Monet lived at Giverny for 43 years, until his death in 1926. During his time there, apart from producing many artistic masterpieces, he also indulged his passion for gardening. He developed the magnificent garden that is now owned by The Claude Monet Foundation and is open to the public.
On our recent trip through France we called in for our fourth visit to the garden. We first went there in 1986, just a few years after it had opened and virtually had the garden to ourselves. Each visit has seen tourist numbers increased and on this occasion it was unbelievably busy. Not only were the house and garden busy, but the whole of the village of Giverny seems to have been swamped by people from all over the world who want to see where the artist lived and worked.
Monet's House
The house is also worth a tour and is included in the ticket price, but on this occasion we gave it a miss. Just a bit too busy.
The garden of an Impressionist
Irises were very predominant on this visit, the plants in flower vary with the season of course.
In 1893 Monet bought a piece of land across the road from his garden, diverted a stream from the river Epte and began the creation of his water garden. Very different in style from his original garden, the Clos Normande, it is now accessed through an underpass from the main garden.
The Japanese style bridges over the famous lily pond are a very popular location for a photograph.
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