Some Snow on Giverny

by Ariane ~ November 28, 2024

A few flakes fell on Giverny on November 21st. I rushed to Giverny to capture the white landscape, but it was melting very fast. The beautiful brown tree is a Japanese maple.

Here is Monet’s flower garden. The vicinity of the river Seine keeps the temperature higher in Giverny than on the plateau, that received a foot of snow.

There are still leaves on the wisterias, and a lot of colors in the water garden. Winter has not yet arrived.

The Old Mill in Vernon

by Ariane ~ October 7, 2024

There was a bridge across the Seine in Vernon as early as the 12th Century. A few piles of the medieval bridge can still be seen from the present day modern bridge. The framework house known as ‘Le vieux moulin’ used to be a mill. It was built in the 16th Century to grind wheat. The hanging wheel doesn’t exist anymore.

September in Monet’s gardens

by Ariane ~ September 7, 2024

In the soft light of September, water lilies open in the afternoon. They need all the morning to decide it’s warm enough.

Flowers are tall, filling the beds with masses of vegetation and colors. Dahlias, sages, gauras, nicotianas, balsams are at their best, as well as the giant yellow helianthus. Asters will start soon.

Monet’s geraniums at Giverny

by Ariane ~ August 15, 2024

A dramatic carpet of geraniums (aka pelargoniums) spreads its colors at the foot of Monet’s house in Giverny. The painter, a keen gardener himself, designed this scene. He liked mixing red and pink and obtained a vibrant effect with the contrast of the green foliage. The geranium beds were surrounded by pinks, just like nowadays.

Summer at Giverny

by Ariane ~ June 28, 2024

Summer is back! In Monet’s garden, it’s the best time to see water lilie in their splendor. They love a warm water, many hours of sunshine, and all the admirers who walk around the Giverny pond, just like the painter in his times.

Summer is also a great time for dahlias, day lilies, snap dragons or castor plants, to quote but a few visible on this picture.

Poppies are popping at Giverny

by Ariane ~ June 9, 2024

Early June, masses of poppies flower in Monet’s gardens, under the majestic arches covered with roses. Large pink, purple or mauve papaver somniferum are combined with wild looking scarlet poppies. Claude Monet loved and painted both.

It’s a long awaited show. Poppy seeds are scattered in the flower beds and grow on site among spring flowers. Late May, the first buds open at last, offering their transluscent petals to the morning sunbeams. One or two weeks later, an overwhelming wave of poppies invades the gardens. They are striking as a whole, and adorable seen close up, with their little heads surrounded by crumpled petals.

At poppies time, bees are in heaven, and so are we.

Through the gleditsia

by Ariane ~ May 23, 2024

In Claude Monet’s water garden in Giverny, each tree has its own color. In spring, the honey locust (aka gleditsia) planted next to the water lily pond boasts an extraordinary color, that combines beautifully with the purple foliages around. Through its elegantly curved branches, Monet’s house appears in the distance. Two windows look like eyes peeping through the vegetation. On the right, the large windows of Monet’s third studio shine in the early light.

The wisterias steal the show

by Ariane ~ April 17, 2024

This is how the wisterias over the Japanese footbridge in Monet’s garden look today. The earliest is in full bloom, but not yet the ones with long flowers on the far left. The beautiful white wisteria will flower last, when the first one will be over, in about 10-15 days. As always in a garden, you cannot have it all at the same time. But no matter when in the next days, the wisterias will steal the show, before the first water lilies open on the surface of the Giverny pond.

First impressions in Monet’s garden

by Ariane ~ April 3, 2024

The Easter week-end is over, flowers are blooming, the first water lily pads float on Claude Monet’s pond, the little green bridge reflects on the water. It’s tulip time.

Giverny opens on March 29, 2024

by Ariane ~ February 21, 2024

Claude Monet’s house and gardens, aka Fondation Claude Monet, will reopen to the public after the winter break on March 29, 2024.
It will be the Easter week-end, so it may be quite busy on the first days.
To save time, make sure you buy your admission tickets ahead of time.
Here is the link: http://giverny.org/gardens/fcm/ticket/

Happy trip planning!

The Frozen Pond

by Ariane ~ February 2, 2024

Giverny, 18 January 2024

This January there were a few days cold enough in Giverny to freeze the surface of Monet’s water lily pond. The dormant rhizoms of the flowers, still alive at the bottom of the pond, don’t mind.

Freezing temperatures didn’t last. We could soon put gloves and scarves aside. And the boat is floating again on the water, ready for the gardeners to use it. The planting of spring flowers is still in progress in Claude Monet’s gardens. It will be completed soon. The venue reopens to the public on 29th March 2024.

Monet’s Pastels Online

by Ariane ~ December 14, 2023

Claude Monet, Charing Cross Bridge, 1900 or 1901, pastel, Triton Foundation Collection

The Wildenstein Plattner Institute just announced that Claude Monet’s 110 pastels are now catalogued on line. Less known than the oil paintings, they are of stunning beauty. The website offers also insights, informations and commentary by Geraldine Lefebvre, that can easily be translated to any language. Enjoy !

Through Monet’s Window

by Ariane ~ November 15, 2023

Monet’s bedroom overlooks his garden, offering views on the Norman Enclosure and the landscape of the Seine Valley. This picture was taken in October, the time of asters and helianthus blooming.
2023 was a record year with 750 000 visitors in Monet’s house and gardens. The estate is now closed for the winter. Reopening on 29th March 2024, for the easter week-end.

Flower Power

by Ariane ~ October 1, 2023

Frédéric Bazille, Fleurs, 1868
© Ville de Grenoble / Musée de Grenoble – J. L. Lacroix

The fine arts museum ‘Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny’ has a new exhibition that will last through January 2024. It is dedicated to flowers in art and encompasses so many styles, times, forms of art, subjects and purposes that everybody will find something to feel moved, impressed and amazed. No Monets, though he painted many flowers, but canvases by his friends Bazille, Boudin, Cézanne, an extraordiany Fantin-Latour… Up to present day flowered dresses and Warhol series of flowers… Let it bloom!

Water Lilies at Giverny

by Ariane ~ August 4, 2023

The water lily pond in Claude Monet’s garden at Giverny

We are having a cool and rainy summer here in Normandy. Despite the temperature that would be more suitable for September, the water lilies look good on Monet’s pond. Their colors range from white to pale yellow and pinks of all hues. There is even a dark red one that looks almost black. Can you see it in the center of the pond ? It is the one with very few pads.