Along with painting color blobs onsite you can't go wrong doing little 2" thumbnails at Giverny.
Try to arrive at the correct train station in Paris when heading off to Giverny. Somehow I got the bright idea to go to Gare Montparnasse. Luckily there was a direct Metro line to Saint Lazare.
Monet was kind enough to draw and paint Gare Saint Lazare as a friendly reminder..
Even the little bus trip from Vernon is bucolic...
Once off the bus just follow the crowds. Don't go exploring yet. That comes later.
Do look down as you're following the gang. The road is lined with loads if iris hither and thither...
A very nice poster that explains better than anything I've seen elsewhere what were Monet's intentions.
I found myself attracted to the less formal parts of the garden...
Where planting was in process..
Looking out the windows makes you feel you're stepping into Monet's shoes...
The walls are covered with Monet's enormous and influential Japanese woodblock collection. Hokosai's cat gazes out the window...
Can you find the cat in Monet's egg yolk yellow kitchen?
Looking much like the cat in the print but now taking a nap on a peony pink poof.
It's peony season at Monet's Maison by the way. Check the flowering calendar.
I took the less traveled path by chance over the lily ponds.
There are plenty of quiet empty places no matter how many visiters...such a spacious garden.
The gift shop is spacious too but not a Monet dish towel in sight...
This book on Giverny is gorgeous by Fabrice Moireau.
And you can take home your own mini version of Monet's chat.
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And you can take home your own mini version of Monet's chat.
Subscribe to ParisBreakfast Newsletter
It's peony season here too..I've been snapping away..
ReplyDeleteTheir heads are drooping in the rain today.
I can't help but think this man's soul must have been so dear.
I have learned more about him since your posts..and feel his sorrow..
What a talented man.
Carol I would have been drawn to the less formal gardens also.I can appreciate them..but I need a cottage garden for myself.
Love the sketches.
Do you think he was sad? I feel joyousness.
DeleteMust look up cottage gardens...ahem
No, Monets was not a 'cottage garden'.
DeleteThe cottage garden is a distinct style of garden that uses an informal design, traditional materials, dense plantings, and a mixture of ornamental and edible plants. English in origin, the cottage garden depends on grace and charm rather than grandeur and formal structure. Homely and functional gardens connected to working-class cottages go back several centuries, but their reinvention in stylised versions grew in 1870s England, in reaction to the more structured and rigorously maintained English estate gardens that used formal designs and mass plantings of brilliant greenhouse annuals.
Lovely, being taken to Giverny on a summer Sunday!
ReplyDeleteMerci,
Merisi
I was there last August and loved the visit!
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking us on a tour of Giverny with you. We are studying Monet in the art class I take so I found your posts very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI was there quite awhile ago and remember a very blue kitchen with lots of tiles. Hmmm, perhaps I was remembering a different room? Now I have to go find the postcards I bought (instead of taking pictures, ahem).
ReplyDeleteIt's blue and yellow. Always has been. The blue kitchen tiles were in the last post
DeleteA pleasant trip down memory lane! Been there, done that -- last October. Unfortunately, unlike you, I did not get to take pictures inside the home. I took some great ones outdoors in the gardens, however. Love the chat. Did you by chance get to see the fenced-in yard of chickens? :-)
ReplyDeleteSuch a lovely spot.
ReplyDeleteAnother fabulous post Carol. Love all the photos and info here. I loved seeing what we don't usually see in photos of his garden. Makes it seem more real.. like I am right there. What I wouldn't give to spend some time in that gift shop. :) You made my day! :)
ReplyDeleteOh I keep forgetting to comment on your sketches and color blobs. Fun to see them too.
ReplyDeleteCarol, you've surely chosen an especially fine time to visit Giverny. In my life, I've gone through various phases of admiring Monet, and not admiring him quite so much. And still. The chance to see this place that gave inspiration to such masterpieces, and also gave Monet a home as his amazing artist's eyes began to fail him...well, I do envy you this visit.
ReplyDeleteYour travel notes have been noted.
Your photographs have enlivened my interest in M. Monet, and I thank you so very much. No need for any gift shop, the images of that garden and the custard yellow of the house are quite enough.
xo
Lovely pictures. We were near there many years ago but didn't visit. Next time.
ReplyDeleteYou are getting around!
Foodwalker
Carol,another really fantastic post today. Besides the beautiful photographs, I especially loved seeing the drawing of Gare Saint Lazare. Monet was so gifted a talent;I am certain he would be amazed--and pleased--to see how he has touched all who are fortunate to enjoy his work and his home.
ReplyDeleteThank you for such a lovely getaway.
Oh Carol - this is my favorite spot in France. I've painted {discretely...) in the garden more than once....the colors do cry "Giverny and Monet!" I have a photo of the rose trees that I took several years ago with my first digital camera - a Sony Mavica - I don't think I could improve with a fancy camera, at least not as an amateur. I look forward to more Giverny posts!
ReplyDeleteJerie Artz - ARtzart
I was there many years ago in the fall and your posts make me want to return, especially in the spring. I definately prefer the unstructured gardens and the iris by the side of the road are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI do need to get there one day. It's the one thing I didn't get to do and always wanted to see. Thanks for the pix--I feel like I've been there thru all the books I've looked at re Giverny! peonies--they're one of my favorite spring flowers, too...
ReplyDeleteHave you visited Mont St. Michel in Normandy or seen the standing stones at
ReplyDeleteCarnac, on the Atlantic?
Thanks for Paris Breakfasts. I quite enjoy your photos and bits of news.
Merle
Not yet on Mt. St. Michel
DeleteSo many places await...
Have you seen the beautiful book, Monet’s Table?
ReplyDeleteBest
Robert
Carol,
ReplyDeleteI love the carousels in Paris. Many of my photos include a carousel and lately I've been drawing, or trying to draw, the various objects on the carousel, the horses especially. My real favorite is a manually operated carousel in Passy. It is an experience from the last century to watch the children there at Jardin du Ranelagh.
I can't imagine how wonderful it must be to see Monet's gardens in person. Thank you for giving us the next best thing.
ReplyDeleteSigh. I loved that place. The kitchen and the yellow room with the Japanese art, which I really like. The cat. Sigh again. (I bought a postcard of that Hokosai cat print). I loved the chickens. Oh, I loved the whole darned thing! I'm so glad you spent some time there! Sigh again. I'm going to look at my pictures and see if I can't pretend to draw something from them worthy of painting.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this blog entry. I would love to purchase Monet's chat. Cannot seem to find it anywhere. Any ideas? Thank you.
ReplyDeleteReta Kenter
Bufalogirl@AOL.COM
thanks for all of this. next sunny day, i'm off to Giverny following your directions.
ReplyDelete