by Ariane ~ April 20, 2013
Monet’s property at Giverny is surrounded by high stone walls. This is nothing special in Normandy, as many estates and gardens are a so called ‘norman enclosure’, in French ‘Clos normand’. The walls are a good protection against rabbits and deers, and excellent for privacy.
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.
by Ariane ~ March 26, 2013
After five months of Winter break,
Giverny will open again on Friday, 29th March instead of the traditional April 1st. This early opening is meant to welcome visitors on Easter week-end.
I’m thrilled to be back again soon in these magnificent gardens to share their beauty with you!
Photo: Giverny, April 20, 2012
by Ariane ~ February 3, 2013
7:30 a.m. at Giverny, 4 May.
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.
by Ariane ~ January 6, 2013
“Signac, the Colors of Water” is the title of the next exhibition at the Musee des Impressionnismes Giverny.
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.
by Ariane ~ December 17, 2012
Here is another view of
Claude Monet’s yellow dining room at Giverny. Bright, charming, cozy, it is often considered inspiring by people seeking new ideas for their home.
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.
by Ariane ~ November 23, 2012
While Giverny is closed for the winter, the gardeners of Fondation Monet are busier than ever. They are getting Monet’s gardens ready for next spring. After pulling out the annuals and cutting the perennials down to ground, they prepare the soil and start the planting. Thousands of bulbs must be planted as soon as possible, preferably before frost.
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.
by Ariane ~ October 27, 2012
Claude Monet planted a beautiful bamboo grove in his water garden at Giverny.
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.
by Ariane ~ October 5, 2012
Next year, the Easter week-end is the last week-end of March.
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.
Read the rest of this entry »
by Ariane ~ October 4, 2012
This is how the Monet garden at Giverny looks this week. The gently sloping “Norman Enclosure”, Monet’s backyard, offers an explosion of dahlias of all kinds, and amazing sunflowers, black eyed Susans, nicotinias, sages, nasturtiums, asters, cosmos, castor plants, zinnias, marigolds, daturas, fox tails, etc etc.
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.
by Ariane ~ August 31, 2012
This is the main alley of Monet’s garden at Giverny, as it looks right now: the nasturtiums planted in May are progressively covering the path.
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!
by Ariane ~ August 15, 2012
This flower bed graces the pond side in Monet’s water garden at Giverny. The main color is red, ranging from orange to purple. I’ve counted over 20 different kinds of flowers planted together, but there are probably more. Here are a few: New Guinea impatience, common begonia, angel wing begonia, common fuchsia, fuchsia microphylla, abutilon, asclepia, oxalys, sage, tithonia, heuchera, polygonum, sweet William, nicotinia… to quote only those that are flowering right now. This border is a good example of the way Monet liked to combine flowers. The appearant wildness of the garden is the result of a lot of work.
by Ariane ~ July 26, 2012
Here are the moor hens living on Claude Monet’s pond at Giverny.
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.
by Ariane ~ June 26, 2012
Just an idea of the profusion of roses blooming in June at Giverny!
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.
by Ariane ~ June 11, 2012
Next to the first studio of Claude Monet at Giverny, the white waterfall of a beautiful philadelphus offers a dramatic show.
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.
by Ariane ~ June 7, 2012
After the yellow and orange Iceland poppies, and the enormous red perennial Chinese poppies, it is now time for the lovely pink annual poppies.
Each year, when they pull the dried ones out of the ground, the gardeners scatter the seeds in the flower beds. They grow everywhere, and they turn the garden into a pink fairy for a few days.
The eremurus, also known as fox tails, create an interesting contrast with their vertical shape.
They are topped by the climbing roses, at their best in June.
