Monet’s famous water lilies.
There are several ways to get to Giverny, the last home of Claude
Monet, one of the founders of French Impressionism. Clients can
take a private car, but it’s very expensive, and tour buses or
minivans are provided by several companies in Paris. Or, if clients
are truly adventurous, they can take the train from Paris to a
small town called Vernon and then either walk or rent a bicycle for
the last few miles to Giverny itself. But no matter how they go,
one thing is for certain: The trip is well worth it, and the
gardens in Giverny, all designed by Monet himself, will knock their
socks off.
Monet lived in Giverny, about 47 miles north of Paris, from 1883
until his death in 1926. After he died, the place fell in to
disrepair, and only through painstaking restoration work that
lasted 10 years did the gardens regain their former glory.
The gardens are a perfect reflection of Monet the painter they
are lush, colorful and beautifully laid out, influenced by both
traditional English plans and more formal Japanese gardens, which
are represented in the Japanese bridge that pops up repeatedly in
many of Monet’s water lily paintings. It’s not hard to see where
Monet got his ideas about color and light.
There are two sections to the grounds. The first, which includes
Monet’s pink and apple-green house, is more formal and rectangular
in shape. The archways in front of the house seem overgrown with
flowers, a riot of color in every direction. Further away are the
famous water gardens where Monet painted his exquisite water lilies
series. To get there, you must take a passageway under some
railroad tracks.
The artist’s pink and apple-
green house.
July is the best month to visit Giverny, but it’s also the busiest.
An estimated half a million people make their way to the painter’s
final retreat, which is open to the public seven months a year,
from April 1 until Oct. 31. The price of admission is $5 for
adults, $4 for those under 12 and children under 7 are free.
Most hotels in Paris will provide private cars for half- or
full-day trips, but the cost is prohibitive, running about $870 per
day (not including a guide, which must be arranged separately). A
better bet are the tour buses and minivans run by Cityrama and
Paris Visions, which begin at about $87 for a half-day trip (with
guides). The concierge at any hotel can arrange these
excursions.
The least expensive way to get to Giverny and the most fun is by
train from Paris’ St. Lazare station to Vernon, a small village
near Giverny. The trip takes 45 minutes if you catch the express,
longer by local train. The price: $30. Buses wait at the train
station in Vernon to take visitors the last few miles to Giverny
and back.
In Vernon, several cafes and bicycle shops will rent bikes for
as little as $20 a day, plus deposit. The trip to Giverny takes
just a few minutes, and there are several good restaurants and
cafes along the way. Accommodations can also be arranged at several
small hotels and bed and breakfasts in Vernon and Giverny
itself.
For those who simply don’t have time to make the trip to
Giverny, there is an alternative. The Orangerie Museum in Paris
houses a collection of Monet’s famous water lily paintings, all
arranged in two oval rooms at the southwestern corner of the
Tuileries Gardens. Monet donated these paintings to the French
government to celebrate the end of World War I, and they are
arranged so as to envelop the visitor at eye level, an experience
second only to actually seeing the lilies in Giverny itself.
