Unfortunately we picked a rainy day to explore Monet’s garden and house at Giverny but it was nevertheless still very beautiful and atmospheric! We started in his Japanese garden where he painted the famous water lilies but they weren’t out yet!
Then on to the house while it rained a bit more. You felt privileged to see how Monet lived and had decorated his rooms with his and others paintings. So much more than an art gallery.
And so out to the garden Clos Normand beside the house. Beautiful lines of colours and flowers. Originally actually dug and planted by Monet and his extended family of 8 children themselves!
Then into the final studio where Monet had painted his last water lilies series displayed round the top now but originally round the floor. He had given them to the state and his good friend Clemenceau in 1922, in whose arms he died in 1926. This is the shop now. The series of paintings is now in the Orangerie in the Tuileries in Paris.
And so home via a little explore in the rain of a local castle or two!
