France June 2016 - Giverny
Our next stop was the small village of Giverny, 50 miles west of Paris, to see the home and garden of the famous impressionist painter Claude Monet.
 
From Rick Steves:  In 1883, middle-aged Claude Monet, his wife Alice, and their eight children settled into this farmhouse.  Monet, already  a famous artist and happiest at home, would spend 40 years in Giverny, traveling less with each passing year.  He built a pastoral paradise complete with a Japanese garden and a pond of floating lilies.
   
This would be Lynnette's favorite spot of the entire trip to France.
   

Claude Monet (14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter, a founder of French Impressionist painting and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein air landscape painting.  The term "Impressionism" is derived from the title of his painting Impression, soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise), which was exhibited in 1874 in the first of the independent exhibitions mounted by Monet and his associates as an alternative to the Salon de Paris.

Monet's ambition of documenting the French countryside led him to adopt a method of painting the same scene many times in order to capture the changing of light and the passing of the seasons.  From 1883, Monet lived in Giverny, where he purchased a house and property and began a vast landscaping project which included lily ponds that would become the subjects of his best-known works. He began painting the water lilies in 1899, first in vertical views with a Japanese bridge as a central feature and later in the series of large-scale paintings that was to occupy him continuously for the next 20 years of his life.
   
Lynnette admiring some of Monet's work.
   
 
   
A good view of the great painter.
   
Yay, Monet!
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
The main, or walled garden, was behind the house.  It was large and colorful.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
I must say, even I was impressed.  This is the prettiest garden I have ever seen.
   
 
   
 
   
We crossed under the road via a pedestrian tunnel over to the Water Garden, featuring the Japanese Bridge and Water Lily Pond.
   

Me Ol' Bamboo!
   
Beautiful.
   
These lily ponds were the subjects of  Monet's best-known works.
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
We left Monet's house and headed down the street -- and Giverny is basically a one street village -- to the Museum of Impressionisms.
   
We looked at the art and checked out the garden, but Monet's garden was a tough act to follow.
   
The museum garden.
   
 
   
Our Bed and Breakfast was on the same street; a very quaint house.  We were very happy with it.  Our host recommended a place -- down the street, of course -- for dinner.
   
Colorful gardens are very popular here in Giverny!
   
Our deserts at the restaurant.  We had a very nice dinner.  Great day!
   
Lynnette pretty happy about her desert.
   
 
   
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