About fifty miles northwest of Paris, on the route to Rouen in Normandy, lies one of the most graceful gardens in France, if not in Europe. It is a garden not only beautiful in itself, but, in its interplay of bright light and leafy shade, historically a source of inspiration to the beginnings of Impressionism in the latter half of the 19th century.
Close by flows the Seine, where Claude Monet sat in his flat-bottomed boat, experimenting with unmixed color to reflect the influence of light on objects, and creating some of the earliest of Impressionist paintings valued in the world of art. His friends Pisarro and Renoir often accompanied him. Cezanne visited him.
The house on the grounds Monet loved, and had rented until he was able to purchase it in the autumn of 1890, is a two-story, four-bedroom cottage charming in appearance inside and out. Here, he and his second wife, Alice, with the eight children that constituted their joint family, enjoyed the airy rooms, and the serendipitous view provided by the garden.
Although Monet travelled extensively throughout his lifetime, Giverny was indeed the center of his universe. His atelier, which takes up a major part of the first floor, remains as he left it, with his paints, photos, and sketches lying about. Some of his original work graces the walls.
The house also reflects the great Japanese influence on artists and intellectuals of the period. The era marked the opening of the East to the West. Well-travelled, Monet had become friendly with Japanese diplomats in Paris, inviting many of them to spend the day or weekend with him at Giverny. His large collection of Japanese prints, many of them gifts from his visitors, is impressive, particularly when some of them are studied against his own style.
IF YOU GO:
From the Gare St.Lazare, Paris, trains depart several times a day for Vernon. A bus meets the trains to transport visitors the seven kilometres to Giverny, the site of Monet’s house and garden. The trip makes a fine day’s outing from Paris or Rouen
