As proposed last week, I have another post on Claude Monet for you. From 1883 he lived in Giverny, a village of about 500 citizens. In 1890 he bought the house, he used to live in during the last 7 years. He lived in that house ’til he died in 1926.
The house still exist and is a museum, now. You can visit the house and the gardens surrounding the house. Huge parking grounds are prepared to have enough room for many, many visitors. The entrance fee is quite high. But, to maintain such a big garden costs a significant amount of money. You can also visit the house. Many paintings are hanging on the walls. But, don’t expect an art museum here. The rooms are still equipped with the past owners furnitures. So you can get an idea of the circumstances Claude Monet used to live. The exposed paintings are from several different creation periods. Certainly, you can see paintings created in the garden around the house, too.
When we arrived, we found a free parking slot very easy. Parking is free and the parking grounds are well signposted. We found is very easy, although it’s a bit remote. On the feeder road several busses full of tourists met us halfway, so we expected a very crowded place (we were there in the middle of the French summer holiday period). Fortunately I bought our tickets in advance online, so we were entitled to enter the property by a side entrance only for bus tours and people with pre-bought tickets. This side entrance is a little bit hidden and we have had to look for it. We knew about the side entrance from the fine prints on the tickets. There was a significant queue in front of the cash box. But inside the garden it was ok. Only the house was too crowded for me. Thus I fled back in the garden very quickly. My wife and my daughter stayed inside much longer.
You can also find a huge gift shop. Here you can buy calendars, postcards, books, DVDs and many, many different tiny things decorated with images by Monet or related to him or his art style. The gift shop is also accessible from the street without the need for a ticket. From inside the garden you have to leave by crossing the gift shop.
Although the garden is big and has a lot of different gardening styles, you’d probable need only about 2 hours to watch it. It was nice to have visited the garden, but I won’t go there for a second time.
Around the house, there are several art galleries, cafés and even flower shops trying to attract people coming for visiting the house and garden of Claude Monet.
Enjoy!
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