Giverny is a small village in Normandy that is famously the home to Monet’s garden; the ‘backyard’ he designed himself to be his subject matter. Aspects of the space are the inspiration of many of his most popular works. I’ve been wanting to visit Monet’s garden at Giverny for a long time. I studied the impressionists as a wide-eyed 10 year old, and although Degas was my favourite (and what 10 year old girl wouldn’t love him? He painted my favourite things, ballerinas and ponies), I was always very interested in Monet; I find his realistic style and the subsequent fading of it fascinating. I love the way he understands light. Maybe I didn’t understand why I liked that as a 10 year old, but I get it now. 18 years later I was able to see many of his greatest paintings at an exhibition in Melbourne called ‘Monet’s Garden’; no prizes for guessing the subject matter. The exhibition showcased many of his works, but the focus was on the garden as his inspiration. I loved the exhibition and I knew that if it was possible I would love to see where the genius found his stimulus.
Some of the colours of Monet’s garden.
The day began with a train ride from Paris to the Normandy town of Vernon. From here it is 5ks to Giverny. Shunning the tourist shuttle bus, we hired a bike and after my partner in crime taught me to stay upright and turn right (something that has alluded me since the late 90s) in the train station car park, we rode on the old railway line through beautiful French country-side. Cows, hills and tiny houses under a grey sky made for a beautiful picture. It was a relaxing ride despite my constant fear of running over small children and animals.
Along the bike path.
Once you are in Giverny it is quickly apparent that there is not much going on, except Monet-related tourism. The epicentre of the town is Monet’s house and garden which is on ‘Rue de Claude Monet’, the fancy French way of saying Claude Monet street. Again proving my theory that everything sounds better in French. Along the street are small art galleries that sell works from artists who have come to the town to be inspired, cafés, a gallery dedicated to impressionism (I’ll get to that later) and of course, the house and garden itself.
Our bikes in Giverny.
Stepping into Monet’s garden is like walking into one of his paintings. I know that sounds cliché, but it’s the only way I can think of to describe the overwhelming mish-mash of bright colours you see and the way the light and shadow reflects on the water. The garden beds are awash with colours. Sometimes, like-tones can be found, like a range of purples and pinks or reds and oranges will be in the same bed. In other cases there are spaces where there is a rainbow of colours in an area. The famous waterlily pond and Japanese bridge can be accessed by a tunnel under the road that was clearly a bit quieter in Monet’s time. Monet spent a lot of his time studying this area and the garden here was the muse for a range of amazing works. The beauty of the spot is incredible, especially when the sun shines down and the reflection shines up from the water. It is a strange phenomenon being in a place you’ve seen so many times in photos, it is stranger to be somewhere you’ve only seen in paintings. Here, you can pick out even the smallest pockets of the garden that were used in Monet’s works, which is a special thing to be able to say. The waterlilies were not out, but it didn’t really matter. The garden still managed to dazzle the senses.
Lilies and bridges.
The house itself housed many pieces of art. Some of Monet’s works hung on the walls of his study and his extensive Japanese print collection hung everywhere else. The foundation that maintains the house has tried to leave as much of it in place as possible to reflect how it looked when Monet lived there. There is evidence of that from a small photo on display in the house of Monet in his kitchen in front of 4 vases all lined up on the mantle with prints of all shapes and sizes hanging above it. When you enter the kitchen those 4 vases are still sitting on the mantle and those same prints are hanging above it. It was a nice touch.
Monet’s house.
A short walk up the road from the garden there is a gallery dedicated to impressionism. Although there are some interesting works there, including a great temporary exhibition on the birth of impressionism in America, there is only about 30 minutes of gallery to explore. There was also only 4 Monet pieces; even the room named after him had only one of his works in there. It was not as fulfilling as I would have liked.
The trip to and from Vernon on the train was easy, the bike ride was a fun (and after the disaster that was trying to ride in Barcelona, a personal triumph) and above all Monet’s garden was as pretty as a picture. Literally.
Ali's adventure 