Tours: Giverny

Located one hour away from Paris, the village of Giverny is the place where the painter Claude Monet chose to settle in 1883. In front of the house, Monet built a magnificent garden called “ Le Clos Normand ”, in which orchids, rose arbours and exotic plants from the Far East mix freely. Admiring the lush garden, one understands better why Monet considered it as an inexhaustible source on inspiration. 

Giverny a charming village spread out along a hillside." I am filled with delight, Giverny is a splendid spot for me" he wrote scarcely one month after moving there. Monet while studying in Paris met Renoir,Sisley and Bazille.He admired Manet and worked side by side with Courbet in Trouville (Normandy).
He would rise at five o'clock and wander along the pattes of Giverny, the rows of poplars and the fields of red poppies.It's in Giverny that he became the forerunner of modern painting.

Wherever he was living, Monet always had a garden at Ville d'Avray, Louveciennes, Argenteuil. The "Clos Normand" was designed in the french style directly in front of the house.Monet used to say " the subject is of secondary importance to me ; what I want to reproduce is what exists between the subject and me.