On the way back from Île de Ré I stopped off at Monet’s house and gardens in Giverny, about an hour from Paris. Monet and his family settled in the small village of Giverny in 1883, it became the place where he would create his most famous work: a series of 250 oil paintings depicting the garden’s water lilies. The house is now open to the public while the garden is packed to the rafters with climbing roses and coloured banks of poppies and hollyhocks. It is evident Monet didn’t like organised or contained gardens, he married flowers according to their colour and left them to grow freely. “All my money goes into my garden,” he said. Ten years after his arrival in Giverny, Monet bought a piece of land neighbouring his garden and created a small pond, which was later enlarged to the size seen today. It is inspired by Japanese gardens and features tumbling wisteria, weeping willows, a bamboo wood and his famous water lilies. On the day we went the sun was out and so were all the beautiful plants, but Monet liked to paint in all seasons, catching the reflections on the water, the mist and the changes in the colours of the plants.
Archive images: source.
All photos my own.
For visitor information see here. It is worth booking tickets online.
