Where is: 76 km northwest of Paris, 66 km southeast of Rouen, 7 km from Vernon.
How to get there:
- under its own power: by train to Vernon from Paris Saint-Lazare Station. At the local station, a bus awaits each train, which takes tourists 6 km to Monet's garden. You can also rent a bicycle (12 euros) at the "Café du Chemin de Fer" opposite the station. You can also take a walk: cross the river and then turn right onto the D5 road. Be careful: when you get to Giverny, turn left at the fork, otherwise you will have to go around the garden.
- by car: The journey will take about an hour. From Paris, take the A13 motorway towards Vernon/Giverny until exit 14.
How does it work: from April to October 10.00-18.00, Mon. closed.
Visit price: 5.5 euros – visit to the house and garden, 4 euros – visit to the garden only. Children and students receive discounts.
In the town of Giverny, located between Rouen and Paris, there is the House Museum of the French impressionist artist Claude Monet. Here he lived from 1883 until his death in 1926, trying again and again to depict in his canvases how, depending on the time of year, the sun illuminates the garden differently, which he laid out between the house and the river. There is no point in coming here to see the artist’s paintings - they are exhibited in the largest galleries in the world. Hundreds of thousands of tourists come here every year to admire the garden laid out around the house and try to feel how Monet managed to paint not with paints, but with light. Every month, from spring to autumn, the garden looks different, but the best months to visit it are May and June, when rhododendrons bloom around the pond with water lilies, and wisteria plays with colors over the famous Japanese bridge. But at this time you will have to compete with crowds of people wanting to photograph the water lilies or just posing on the bridge.
Monet lived almost his entire life in houses with a garden: in Argenteuil, and in Veteil, and in Giverny, and he certainly captured them in his paintings. However, the artist considered the garden at Giverny his greatest masterpiece. After a visit to Monet, the German art critic Julius Mayer-Graff noted: " Monet reveals himself best with the garden he planted around him. country house. He created it according to the same principles as his paintings... Each individual flower flows into the overall harmony of colors".
When Monet became the owner of this hectare of land, a local railway line passed through the site. Unfortunately, it gradually transformed into an ever-clogged highway, dividing the park into two separate areas.
IN northern part Park (Clos Normand) is the artist's house - a building with green shutters, painted an idyllic pastel pink. The rooms inside the house are painted in different colors, exactly as they were during Monet's life, and the walls of the rooms are still decorated with the artist's wonderful collection of Japanese prints, including wonderful works by Hokusai and Hiroshige. Now the famous Water Lily studio is a museum hall. It is decorated with beautifully executed reproductions of Monet's works. Souvenirs are also sold here.
TO southern part The Water Garden park (Jardin d'Eau) has a tunnel made under the embankment highway. In 1895, the artist, who had already achieved recognition, drained this swampy place with canals and ponds, planted them with water lilies and built the famous irregular, asymmetrical Japanese Bridge, exact copy which can be viewed today.
Here the artist created famous works, for example, "Rock of Aiguille and Porte d'Aval" or "Gate of Mannport in Etretat". Now located in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow: "Rocks in Belle-Ile", "Rocks in Etretat", "Haystack in Giverny", "Rouen Cathedral by Moonlight", "Rouen Cathedral in the Evening", "Water Lilies". (You can read about Rouen Cathedrals .)
No photographs can tell better about the garden than the paintings of the artist himself.
C.Monet.Giverny
If you drive 80 km north from Paris, you can get to a very picturesque place - Giverny. This village is famous for the fact that Claude Monet once lived and worked here for forty-three years.
Claude Monet, photograph by Nadar, 1899. Oscar Claude Monet - French painter, one of the founders of impressionism.
The territory of Giverny has been inhabited since Neolithic times, as evidenced by archaeological data. The settlement also existed during Roman times.
In early spring, when the flowers fly from the trees, covering everything with petals....The Arab delegation
Carla Lavatelli - beauty creator
Claude Monet is buried here
During the reign of the Merovingians, a parish was founded, headed by the Church of St. Radegund.
Very modest and no frills
In 863, King Charles II the Bald recognized Giverny as the domain of the monks from the Abbey of Saint-Denis-le-Fermand. In the 11th century, the fief of Giverny, together with the church, returned to the control of the Abbey of Saint-Ouen in Rouen. In the Middle Ages, a number of lords changed in Giverny, but they all remained vassals of the abbot of Saint-Ouen.
There were many monasteries in the town. The house next to one of them was called Le Moûtier, and the name of the other estate, La Dîme, came from the word "tithe", since until the Revolution it served as a place for collecting this tax in favor of the abbey.
During the Revolution, the lands of Giverny were owned by the Le Laurier family. M. le Laurier became in 1791 the first mayor of the village.
Claude Monet's house is surrounded by flowers, just like during the artist's lifetime
"House at Giverny" Frederick Carl Frieseke, 1912. Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid
Having settled in the village in 1883, the artist Claude Monet became so interested in gardening that on his canvases there was almost nothing except views of his favorite garden and poppy field, which is located on the edge of the village.
Office, workshop overlooking the garden
At first, Monet's garden consisted only of the area adjacent to the house (about 1 hectare). Here, the first thing the artist did was carve out a gloomy alley of spruce and cypress trees.
But tall stumps were left, along which climbing roses then climbed. But soon the vines grew so large that they closed and formed a vaulted flowering tunnel leading from the gate to the house.
Claude Oscar Monet: The Garden in Flower (1900)
Of course, over time, the stumps collapsed, and now the roses are supported by metal supports.
This place can be seen in the Master’s paintings: the perspective of an alley, where there are lush flowers on the left, right and above, and on the path below there are their thin openwork shadows.
The artist turned the area in front of the house, which was visible from the windows, into a floral palette, mixing and matching colors. In Monet's garden, a colorful, fragrant carpet of flowers is divided by straight paths, like paints in a box.
Monet painted flowers and painted with flowers. He's like truly talented person were an outstanding artist, and an outstanding landscape designer.
He was very interested in gardening, bought special books and magazines, corresponded with nurseries, and exchanged seeds with other gardeners.
Woman in the garden
Fellow artists often visited Monet in Giverny. Matisse, Cezanne, Renoir, Pissarro and others visited here. Knowing about the owner’s passion for flowers, friends brought him plants as gifts. Thus, Monet got, for example, tree-like peonies brought from Japan.
By this time, Claude Monet became famous. This artist’s painting technique is different in that he did not mix paints. And he placed them side by side or layered one on top of the other in separate strokes. Claude Monet's life flows calmly and pleasantly, his family and his beloved wife are nearby, paintings sell well, the artist is passionate about what he loves.
"It's evening, Giverny." Guy Rose, 1910. San Diego Museum of Art
In 1893, Monet bought a plot of marshy land next to his own, but located on the other side of the railway. A small stream flowed here.
At this place, the artist, with the support of local authorities, created a pond, small at first and later enlarged.
C. Monet. “Lily Pond”, 1899, National Gallery, London
Nymphs of different varieties were planted in the reservoir, and weeping willows, bamboo, irises, rhododendrons and roses were planted along the banks.
1900.K.Monet.Japanese bridge
C. Monet. “Water Lilies”, 1915
1922
There are several bridges across the pond, which has a very winding coastline. The most famous and largest of them is the Japanese bridge, entwined with wisteria. Monet painted it especially often, as you can see. In the spring, when the wisteria blooms, you get the feeling of being in one of the famous Japanese gardens, and there is a bamboo plantation and Japanese maples planted nearby... Although the garden seemed to us deliberately chaotic and unsystematic, it’s like once again gave it a sad charm, a beauty untouched by time...
Monet's water garden is strikingly different from the surrounding area; it is hidden behind the trees. You can only get here through a tunnel built under the road.
Everyone who comes here involuntarily freezes, holding their breath, seeing the masterpiece created by the great artist, recognizing the plots of his world-famous paintings.
This is the bamboo I was talking about
Claude Monet drew inspiration from the water garden for 20 years. Monet wrote: “... the revelation of my fabulous, wonderful pond came to me.
Monet wrote: “I took the palette, and from that time on I almost never had another model.” He first created paintings in nature, they gave reflections in the water surface of the pond, and then the artist transferred them to canvas.
Getting up every day at five in the morning, he came here and painted in any weather and any time of year. Here he created more than a hundred paintings. At this time, Monet began to lose his sight...
It became increasingly difficult for him to distinguish and write small parts. The artist's paintings gradually change. Details and nuances are replaced by large strokes of paint that show the play of light and shadow. But even in paintings painted in this manner, we unmistakably guess familiar plots. The cost of paintings continues to rise...
Claude Monet died at his home in Giverny in 1926. His stepdaughter Blanche looked after the garden. Unfortunately, during the Second World War the garden fell into disrepair.
In 1966, the son of the artist Michel Monet donated the estate to the Academy of Fine Arts, which immediately began restoration of first the house and then the garden. Now the estate in Giverny is visited by half a million people every year.
Claude Monet lived a long life happy life. He managed to do what he loved, combine painting and gardening, and live in abundance. He was very happy and personal life, loved and was loved.
He knew how to give happiness himself...
Monet became famous during his lifetime, which is rare for artists. And now throughout the world he remains one of the most famous and beloved artists. And we are especially pleased that this outstanding man Not only great painter, but also our colleague and Teacher, Master of Landscape Art.
Each month, from spring to autumn, the garden looks different, but the best months to visit it are May and June, when rhododendrons bloom around the pond with water lilies, and wisteria plays with colors over the famous Japanese bridge.
But at this time you will have to compete with crowds of people wanting to photograph the water lilies or just posing on the bridge.
The rooms inside the house are painted in different colors, exactly as they were during Monet's life, and the walls of many rooms are still decorated with Monet's wonderful collection of original Japanese prints, including wonderful works by Hokusai and Hiroshige.
Not far from the garden, up rue Claude Monet, is the Museum American art(visiting hours April-October, Tuesday-Sunday from 10.00 to 18.00; cost 5.50 euros).
The museum's exhibition is constantly updated based on paintings from the collection of the Terra Art Foundation, including paintings by John Singer Sargent and James Whistler, as well as works by American impressionists who lived in small village artists not far from Claude Monet, in particular the paintings of Mary Cassatt, whose work was significantly influenced by Japanese painting.
And life goes on. Claude Monet’s garden still blooms, his flowers still cry with dew, without him... their Creator
Where is the house and garden of the famous impressionist artist Claude Monet. We will tell you about how to get to Claude Monet's house, about the time when lilies bloom, what to see in Giverny and when is the best time to go there. By the way, in order to avoid wasting time in queues and problems with transport, you can buy a tour to Giverny directly from Paris using this link (calculate the transport costs and tickets yourself and you will understand that the tour does not cost much more, only here the excursion is also included).
How to get to Giverny by train
Flowering schedule in Giverny by season
Giverny in spring
March:
At the end of March, with the arrival of spring, the first flowers appear in Claude Monet's garden - these are hyacinths, daffodils, pansies and daisies. This is the time when Giverny opens its doors to visitors.
April:
The artist's garden turns into a real paradise. Daffodils and tulips are blooming. They are joined by other spring flowers. In addition, at this time, apple and cherry trees bloom. In a Japanese pond, the first spring flowers gently awaken...
This is perhaps the most blooming, but also the most crowded month in Giverny. Tulips and forget-me-nots, night violets and poppies, the famous irises accompanied by peonies, exotic bulbs in violet-blue and cream tones, lilies, hyacinths - all of them bloom for visitors to the garden.
Japanese maples and century-old beeches are beginning to put on their spring foliage. The Japanese bridge, shrouded in fragrant wisteria, blooms and smells. Everything is like in Monet’s paintings!
Giverny in summer
June:
June means roses and rose bushes! And, of course, the main event is the appearance of white, yellow and pink lilies in the Japanese pond.
July:
Snapdragons, carnations, begonias, pink and red geraniums bloom in Claude Monet's garden. Sunflowers and hollyhocks reach their maximum height. In a Japanese pond, water lilies appear in all their grandeur.
August:
Dahlias and our beloved gladioli are blooming. Red sage and orange and yellow carnations can be seen. The Japanese pond needs daily tidying up. Previously, Claude Monet himself was responsible for cutting leaves and algae every morning, filtering the water and maintaining the water lilies. Now a special gardener does this.
Giverny in autumn
September:
Many different varieties of nasturtiums bloom, including the famous Lobba nasturtiums, which give the impression of a waterfall, in which Claude Monet found inspiration during his stay in Italy. Japanese pond - the light becomes softer, the reflections in the water darken, emphasizing all sorts of shades of the pond. Autumn comes and water lilies begin to fade.
October:
October is the explosive flowering of dahlias, the fading of other flowers, replaced by purple, blue, red, pink and white asters.
Yellow-orange weeping willows lean over a Japanese pond, and a Canadian maple glows red.
Claude Monet's garden is getting ready for bed.
Giverny in winter
Starting in November, the garden is closed to visitors. However, he lives life to the fullest. Workers are rushing to cultivate the soil, plant new bulbs, clean the pond - and all this so that in the spring visitors can once again enjoy Claude Monet's beautiful garden!
Have a nice trip!
From Rouen the road led us to Giverny, to visit Claude Monet.
“I’m good for nothing except painting and gardening.” Claude Monet.
One day, Monet, traveling on a train past the village of Giverny, which is 80 kilometers from Paris, drew attention to its picturesqueness, to the peaceful picture village life, blooming gardens, peace and tranquility in the air.
In 1883, he first rented, and 7 years later bought a large brick house with a garden and vegetable garden on 1 hectare of land. This is how he looks in Monet’s painting (all reproductions used here are from paintings by Claude Monet):
I saw him like this: 
After 3 years he buys a plot through railway(today there is a highway and an underpass). Here he diverts a canal from a tributary of the Epte River to create a pond and water garden. 
In this estate he would happily live the second half of his life, 43 years, with his sons Jean and Michel, his beloved second wife Alice and her six children (his first wife, Camille, died at the age of 32 from tuberculosis). 
He's already famous artist, who earns well, is respected and loved by his friends, he often has impressionist artists at his estate and at the Giverny hotel, among them there are many foreigners, especially Americans, who want to learn from the master of impressionism.
(Claude Monet in Giverny. In the photo - far right)
I have seen a lot of house-museums and memorial estates in Russia, I don’t really like them because of their “lifeless” and “uninhabited” appearance, laces fencing the entrance to the rooms, caretakers vigilantly monitoring visitors... In Giverny everything “breathes” with presence Monet, you can walk freely around the pink house with green shutters,
look at the paintings on the walls (unfortunately, copies)
look into the studio from which he seemed to have just left, look out the window from which he admired his garden, getting up every morning at 5 o’clock and setting off to write sketches.
You can see the bedroom, with copies of his works and paintings of friends,
See what the dining room looked like Japanese prints– his hobby, and cuisine
There is a regular garden in front of the house, in which Monet planned the planting of flowers, bushes and trees so that they would constantly bloom, replacing each other with early spring before late autumn.
Monet created his garden as piece of art, How big picture taking into account perspective, shapes, color, light, and shadows.
But his favorite place was the Japanese water garden. He said: “...The revelation of my fabulous, wonderful pond came to me. I took the palette, and from that time on I almost never had another model.”
He was always fascinated by the idea of transmitting reflections in water, water highlights and, of course, water lilies, white and multi-colored, which had not previously been seen in France. Four years before Monet began developing his water garden, in 1889, at the World Exhibition in Paris, he saw multi-colored water lilies bred by a French breeder.
Claude Monet painted more than 270 paintings depicting his water garden, a bridge entwined with wisteria (there are 6 of them in the garden),
the famous water lilies, the reflection of the sky and weeping willows in the water, vibrating color, delicate shadows.
In 1912, Monet underwent two operations for cataracts and began to see White color like blue or purple in the ultraviolet range, which is why we can often see a lot of blue in his paintings of those years.
In 1911, his wife Alice died, and soon his eldest son Jean, Monet fell into depression. His stepdaughter Blanche Goschede (or Hoschede), who was married to Jean, moved to Giverny in 1913 after the death of her husband, helped Monet, being a good artist herself, and supported him until the end of his life. One of the streets in Giverny today bears her name.
In 1926, Claude Monet died of lung cancer at the age of 86 and was buried in a local cemetery. The house and garden have moved youngest son Michel, but he lived in Paris, Blanche and the head gardener looked after the garden, trying to keep everything as it was. The estate and garden were damaged during the war; Michel sold his father's collection of paintings to private museums in the 50s; many paintings by Monet and his friends ended up in the USA. After Michel's death in a car accident, Monet's house and garden were bequeathed (Michel had no children) to the French Academy of Fine Arts. The remaining paintings went to the Paris Marmottan-Monet Museum, which today houses the most large collection works by Claude Monet.
In the 70s there were carried out great work Following the restoration of the house, garden, and surrounding landscapes, they today have almost the same appearance as they did during Monet’s lifetime.
If it were not for the large number of tourists filling the rooms of the house and wandering along the paths of the garden, then you would get a complete impression of how life lived here great artist. And maybe it would even seem to you that he is sitting on a foggy morning by the pond and painting his adored water lilies or relaxing on a bench in his garden.…
Near the estate, if you are tired and hungry, you can have a snack in a cozy cafe that serves dishes from the famous Normandy ducks,
or watch the white Norman cows, they say, and in Monet’s time they also grazed in the meadows next to the estate.
All photographs of the estate and house were taken by me in Giverny in August 2015.
The picturesque village of Giverny became world famous thanks to the impressionist artist Claude Monet. The estate where they passed it best years and dozens of masterpieces were written, today it is one of the most visited corners of France.
Background
Biographies of Claude Monet say that he first saw Giverny from a train window. In the spring of 1883, he made a special visit to this place, and the landscapes from blooming gardens made a deep impression on him.
At that time, Monet was already quite famous and rich. Soon he purchased a house in Giverny and moved there permanently with his family, and a few years later he began arranging his unique garden. Here Claude Monet was destined to live happily for 43 years, until his death in 1926.
House-museum
In the 1980s, the house in Giverny became the Claude Monet Museum (Fondation Claude Monet). Its external and internal decoration, furniture arrangement and all furnishings have been completely preserved in the form in which they were during the artist’s lifetime. 
Monet personally handled the arrangement of the house: the decoration of living rooms, bedrooms and other rooms was made in his favorite bright colors. One of the most memorable parts of the house is the dining room: it is designed in a rich yellow color and is decorated with valuable Japanese prints that the artist collected throughout his life. His passion for Japanese culture is reflected in other rooms, where you can find not only prints, but also pieces of furniture in oriental style. 
The museum has preserved a large number of personal belongings and household items that belonged to Claude Monet and his family: dishes, kitchenware, carpets, watches, etc. The artist's bedroom is decorated with paintings given to him by his impressionist friends: Renoir, Cézanne, Pissarro and others.
For painting classes, Monet equipped 3 studios in the estate; only one of them is now open to visitors. In it, the artist kept his favorite works that were not intended for sale. Today, Monet’s paintings themselves are not here; the “working” atmosphere is created by their high-quality copies. You can see the original paintings of the founder of impressionism in the Orsay and Marmottan-Monet museums in Paris.
- (30.00 €)
- (35.00 €)
Garden
Of great interest to tourists is not only Claude Monet’s house, but also his main “workshop” – the garden. For many years, this place was the main source of inspiration for the great impressionist and practically the only object of creativity. During the 43 years that the artist lived in Giverny, he painted several hundred paintings depicting a garden and a pond in the Japanese style with weeping willows, white flowers on the water and wooden bridges. Monet’s most famous series of paintings, “Water Lilies,” was created here. 
Today, the Claude Monet Foundation is caring for the estate in Giverny. Like the house museum, all corners of the garden are maintained in pristine condition. Tourists can explore the estate from April to October, and the best months May and June are considered for visiting: it is at this time that the artist’s favorite flowers, water lilies, bloom.
