Nowadays, the furniture is still authentic, as well as the objects decorating the room, but the paintings are all copies. Monet lined them on the walls on several rows up to the ceiling.

This studio was restored recently, it looks as if Monet had just left it.

Here is a pic of Monet’s second studio seen from the main street of Giverny, rue Claude Monet. This building is not open to the public. It houses offices and reception rooms for the administration of Fondation Claude Monet.

At Monet’s time, it was used as a studio where Monet stored the paintings for sale, and completed them if necessary. Monet designed the studio to receive northern light.

The big green gate was the gate to the garage sheltering his car, a Panhard Levassor that he bought in 1900.

On the far left, Claude Monet’s main house appears in the distance.

I’m thrilled to be back again soon in these magnificent gardens to share their beauty with you!

Photo: Giverny, April 20, 2012

The sun appears behind the hill, enlightening the soft mist lingering over Monet’s pond.

The garden is quiet, peaceful.

Birds are singing the new day.

And light starts its magic on the surface of the water.

It will open on March 29, 2013 and display 120 works by the famous post-impressionist painter Paul Signac.

Signac is well-known for his pointillist, sometimes almost mosaic like paintings. He also loved watercolors for a quick sketch of a place, especially harbors.

Signac was a great admirer of Claude Monet. He stayed for the summer at Les Andelys, not far from Giverny, where Monet visited him and bought him a watercolor.

The Giverny exhibit includes a sumptuous view of the River Seine at Les Andelys belonging to Musée d’Orsay.

The red and creamy tiles on the floor are typical for the local 19th Century style and can be found in many houses around. The furniture, including buffets and chairs, was also widely spread. Monet’s novelty was to paint it in these two tones of yellow.

Nevertheless, a strange spell lies on this dining room. Many visitors remember it as the “yellow kitchen”. However, the neighboring kitchen is absolutely blue, as you can spot through the door.

The beds in front of Monet’s home obey the same color schemes every year. Enormous tulips in different shades of pink combine with blue forget-me-not. The trick is to choose a palette of tones ranging from apricot to mauve to obtain an illusion of brushstrokes. The effect lasts longer than expected because early and late blooming tulips are used together.  A row of dianthus surrounds the beds.

Next to these most impressive pink tulip beds, a border made with different kinds of yellow wallflowers  offers a strong contrast in terms of color, size and shape. This border located under the pink blossom of three crab apple trees is partly shaded. Mauve blue bells scattered among the wall flowers produce an effect of shade and sunshine. The border is lined by white daisies. Last spring the gardeners added white tulips, for a very fresh result.

Bamboos are ever green. This picture was taken on the 1st of November, the very last day of the season, and even on such a late date bamboos were as pretty as ever.

Bamboos are not native to France. The golden bamboos that Monet chose look very tall and exotic in Normandy.

Monet liked growing giant plants and Japanese plants, and bamboos were both at the same time.

As a clever gardener, the painter chose the best location for them: on an island of his water garden, where they would get enough water, and where the invasive roots would be contained by the stream.

He never painted them, but certainly liked the contrast their shade produces with the pond, that is open and full of light.

After Monet passed away, the garden was left without much tending for long years. But the bamboos have survived, because they regenerate spontaneously, making new shoots every year.

During the decades when Monet’s house was left uninhabited, the garden became the playground of the children of Giverny. One of their favorite games was playing Tarzan in Monet’s bamboo grove. For them, it looked like a rain forest.

The direction of Fondation Claude Monet has thus decided exceptionnally to open the gardens of Giverny on Saturday 30 March at 9.30am.

This will be two days earlier than the normal date.

The garden will be carpeted with pansies and daffodils.

(This picture was taken this year, the 4th of April.)

Monet’s house and gardens will be open daily from 30 March 2013 till 1 November 2013.

The new admission prices for 2013 are 9.50 euros for an adult, 5.00 euros for a child of 7 or older and for a student, and 4.00 euros for disabled people.

To save time, you can get advance tickets on-line for the same price.

It is SO beautiful!

All these flowers harmonize by colors in monochromatic flower beds. Here the orange version. You will also see red borders, purple ones, pink ones, yellow ones… The garden is typically impressionist in late season.

In the water garden, the last water lilies float on the pond. The light is ever changing, providing continuously renewed effects. The foliages have started to change their color.

Fall is one of my favorite time at Giverny. I would not be surprised if it would have been Monet’s favorite time too.

They ressemble a river of flowers, and with a bit of imagination you almost see them flowing.

What for? To fill the water lily pond of the water garden, of course!

Every year, they nest on the island in the middle of the pond, or in the shrubs around. After a few weeks, they appear on the water with their adorable little chicks, five of them generally.

They are so sweet, light enough to walk on the lily pads. Both parents take care of them. But it won’t help.

Because we are human beings with a memory, we know what’s going to happen next: the ducklings will end in the belly of the pike living in the pond. This is the cruel story that repeats every year.

But because they are moor hens, and have not much space for brains in their head, they forget every year and keep nesting on the same location.

This afternoon two of the smalls only were left.

For a few weeks, Monet’s garden becomes a rose garden.

Rambling, climbing roses climb on dozens of metallic structures, typical for a garden designed in the 19th Century.

It faces the little rose garden, just perfect by now.

A bench nested at its feet is a nice place where to have a rest after meandering in the alleys.

If the wind blows, it will let fall a shower of white petals on the visitors seated below.