GIVERNY

GOING UP TO THE COUNTRYSIDE


Like Monet himself, going to the countryside to paint, when he was looking for a landscape in a village to immortalize it in an oil painting, we will do the same. We will follow a trail that will take us to a place where we will enjoy views, not only of Giverny, but also of its agricultural plain.


We certainly won´t take any paintbrushes with us, but our camera to capture the beautiful moment.


Giverny slopes will welcome us with landscapes that Monet loved so much and that were a source of inspiration for impressionism. These hillsides have exceptional biodiversity and offer infinite peace at the top.


Many pictures painted by artists depict landscapes surrounding the city of Giverny and its Norman countryside. Everyone knows Monet´s affection for the region, which made him so seduced by it that he surrendered to its mysticism.


The trail starts right behind the city hall at 7 Rue Blanhe Hoschede-Monet, where two perfectly trails converge. The first indicated trail is called “Sentier du Lézard Vert” marked with dark blue arrows and the second one is called “L´Astragale”, marked with light blue arrows. We will take a left knows as “Sentier du Lézard Vert”, the green lizard trail. You can if you are on the right trail to a local inhabitant you may meet along the way. Other assiduous inhabitants you may find are the sheep, which are responsible for eating the weeds along the way. The tourist office will provide you trails map.


As we walk, don´t forget taking a look at the village in a river valley, and the many flowers along the way, among them orchids.


When we are higher up, we will find an oak and walnut trees grove. As far as fauna is concerned, we will see some nice squirrels and perhaps a fox with its matted fur which can appear among the foliage.


From this place you will have a magnificent perspective of many plantations hectares that invade the horizon, especially the canola that colors and illuminates the landscape, with its intense and fragrant yellow. Until July, we find this landscape, which is the Normandy´s characteristic, before the harvest.


Address:
Sentier du Lézard Vert 7, Blanche Hoschede-Monet St. Giverny

ALWAYS TASTY!


If there is one thing that almost everyone likes, it is a soup or a good broth. This traditional French cuisine dish is the onion soup.
This simple dish is very easy to prepare and in the past was the food of many modest people due to its simple ingredients: water, a lot of onions and bread.


It seems that the discover of this soup was the King Louis XV´s father-in-law, Stanislaus I Leszynski, Polish King and Mary Leszynska.
The enthusiastic king and gastronomy lover discovered the onion soup by chance when he traveled to Versailles to visit his daughter. When he was on the way, he stopped in Fonda de Chalons and at this place they gave the king a soup. The king liked the soup so much that he went to the kitchen to learn the recipe. Neither the smoke nor the smell of onions that made him cry made him distracted. The king observed everything in detail, took notes and did not leave the inn until he was sure he had mastered the art of preparing this excellent onion soup.


It seems that when he arrived in Versailles, Stanislaus taught the recipe to the King of France.


The soup became popular in the XIX century, the custom of drinking hot soup in the few places in Paris that remained open until the early hours of the morning was born, above all in the taverns and restaurants that were close to the Las Halles Market. Drinking this soup was so common among market workers that this simple custom became the best meal for the people who had a night life.


The secret of this soup is toasting the bread and the onions in butter or lard. Add the toasted bread, the onion and the cheese to the broth and heat them up in the oven. The original recipe does not take cheese, this custom of adding cheese on top and grating it appeared much later.


Address:
We suggest you try the “Soupe à l´oignion gratinée” at the Brasserie des Artistes located at 99 Rue Claude Monet, Giverny.

IMPRESSION, SUNRISE!


Claude Monet is considered the father of Impressionism. This artistic movement that surprised art history with its revolutionary pictorial technique, broke with the established academicism, marking the path of modern art.


It seems that it was a Monet´s paining that gave this artistic movement its name. It was a picture Monet painted from his window in Le Havre, where the sunlight at dawn reflected on the harbor water. The painting was going to be presented in a Paris exhibition and he was asked for a title for the presentation catalog. The painter could not put as a title:” View from the Window”, because it was too simple of a tittle. So, he said: “write...Impression, sunrise”, and from that, Impressionism was born”.


Therefore, we suggest you buying a souvenir that reproduces the painting that gave the name to this artistic movement.


The original painting is in the Monet Marmottan Museum in Paris. It was painted in 1872 and represents a sunrise on the water of Le Havre port. In this city, Monet spent most of his life and was where he moved after leaving Paris. It is a series of paintings that Monet completed of the Le Havre port, where the light and the color play an essential role.


The intense orange sun, reflecting on the undulating waters, stands out over the blue, another color highlighted in its various shades. We also see the blurred boats figures and the smoky chimneys. They are quick brushstrokes that capture their author´s “impressions”. This painting owes its fame in great part, to the poor reception it had in the beginning, because the critics did not understand this type of art, practically unknown back then. Besides, they were confused by the painting and the title Monet had put on it.


Monet´s painting and the impressionists in general did not represent a landscape, but the impression that this landscape produced for them.


The harsh criticism helped to stimulate the painting and the Impressionist movement, headed by Claude Monet, gained a lot of popularity.


Address:
“Impression, soleil levant.”
You can buy in the Monet Foundation boutique store.
84-Rue Claude Monet (St. Claude Monet).


Open every day from 9.30 A.M. to 6.00 P.M. from April 1st till November 1st.

“CLOS NORMAND”, A MASTERPIECE


Claude Monet was an excellent gardener, although he became world-renowned for his paintings. As he himself once said: “I only know how to do two things: paining and gardening!” and how well he did that! Undoubtedly, Monet was a man full of talents.


Monet´s garden was known as Clos Normand in Giverny. He knew how to create a perfect harmony between the flowers and the trees building a place full of colors and aromas. This incredible place was and is Monet´s masterpiece, according to his own words and he dedicated a large part of his life to it.


When the painter-gardener bought his house, there was a small vegetable garden with apples trees, a Normandy tree par excellence. A path full of cypress and pine trees from the vegetable garden leads to the front door of the house entrance. He already had in mind that such garden would be the garden of his dreams, a colorful garden that he felt so inspired to produce his paintings.


Monet decided cutting down the trees along the path to replace them with metal arches to support the flowers. He planted petunias and scented roses near the two trees that preceded the path and the final result was perfect, it represents the main axis and is the most photographed place in the garden.


The apple trees have been replaced by Japanese cherry and apricot trees, turning the ground into a flowering carpet. Claude Monet´s passion for gardening led him to paint a thousand flowers, including crossing them. He was so fond of flowers in general, that it was really hard to choose between one or the other.


Imagine yourself in the blooming season, the explosion of colors and perfumes invading all your senses creating the dream paradise.


Monet used his pictorial knowledge to create perspectives and thus succeeded in emphasizing the house and intensifying the shadow zones. On one side of the garden, he created rectangular flower beds of unique colors arranged as if they were his palette of painting. Monet was as creative in his garden as he was in his painting. This man with a passion for flowers has created an authentic spectacle of floral magic, a unique place in the world, where you will be amazed when you visit.


“Maybe he owes the flowers the fact of being a painter!”


Address:
Clos Normand
84 Rue Claude Monet (Claude Monet St.)
Open every day from 9.30 A.M. till 6.00 P.M. from April 1st till November 1st.

THE DREAM HOUSE!


Claude Monet was born in Paris in the painting merchants´ neighborhood, a destiny premonition, but when he was still very young, he moved with his family to Le Havre city. He discovered drawing through caricature and moved to Paris to study painting where he made friends with renowned painters.


Claude Monet early life was difficult and he experienced many financial difficulties because no art gallery wanted to exhibit his paintings.


After meeting his main benefactor, the painter was able to live without having to resort to exhibitions. Even so, the prices of apartments and houses have always been very expensive. Monet, knowing that 100 kilometers (62,137 miles) away from Paris, far from real estate speculation, in the middle of the countryside lived a young American painters´ colony, decided moving to this place.


He moved to Giverny with his sentimental partner, her six children and two more children of his own, a very large family.


Monet rented a farm in Giverny and afterwards bought the same one, the place where he lived 36 years of his life. This village was a peaceful refuge, a place that continuously inspired Monet’s work, making him one of the greatest painters in history.


Inside Monet´s house, we find vivid colors from his paintings and gardens. On the ground floor is the small blue reading room that communicates with the pantry, where all the groceries were stored in the cupboards on the wall. Also, on the ground floor is where the dining room with the yellow walls was located, as well as, the furniture, where we can see all the yellow and blue porcelain dishes, which were specially created for party days. The kitchen is all covered with the blue crockery and we can also see the hanging copper pans that were used in the big fires.


A staircase leads to the second floor, where the bedrooms are.


Nowadays, everything is exactly as the Monet family left it, and it looks like they are waiting for the owners to return.


Address:
Maison de Claude Monet (Monet´s house)


84 Rue Claude Monet (Claude Monet St.)
Open every day from 9.30 A.M. till 6.00 P.M. from April 1st till November 1st.

WORLD WAR II REMAINS


In Giverny there is a rather particular place, among so much beauty and flowers, a monument that makes reference to the Word War II.


Two days after the Normandy landing, on June 8,1944, bomber planes left UK for France. When they were flying over the Normandy coast, they were surprised by German fighter planes, which provoked a relentless fight.


One of the British planes was hit by enemy fire and the engine was set on fire. The burning plane flew over Giverny before a huge fireball fell a few hundred meters from the city, in the middle of the countryside, without any of its seven crew members having time to parachute out.


Several years after this event, when they carried out excavations in the area, a part of the aircraft was discovered which was buried 5 meters deep. With the remains of the helix they found, they decided to build a monument in memory of those crew members.


What we will propose as entertainment are some riddles that will help you discovering more about this particular monument history.


First: What was the name of the English bombers? It has the last name (three syllables) of an old, famous and glamorous Hollywood.


Second: They found an engine among the pieces they extracted from the excavations. Guess what the manufacture’s name was? It is the mark of a luxury English car.


Third: It is located inside the village.
It will be easy to distinguish it if we know which part is. It is fundamental to fly.


If we have a sunny day, perhaps the glow of the silver spark will reveal it. Very close to this, is another memorial, the Homeland´s dead.


Once you have located it, crouch down and you will see some engraved marks in the solid metal. Run your fingers over it, it is the mark of the disaster. Caress them, feel the history to remember this tragedy of our recent past.


So that you do not lose the day, we have discovered the enigma. But you can read on, if you haven´t found out for yourself. It is not easy. It is the remain of the Lancaster Bomber. The Avro 683 Lancaster was a British four-engine World War II bomber manufactured for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The plane was manufactured by Avro with a Rolls Royce engine.


Address:


Memorial des Aviateurs Britaniques. (British Airmen´s Memorial).
Located near the Saint Radegonde Church.
Rue Claude Monet (Claude Monet St.)

LEGEND OR MYTH?


The Giverny parish church, to which its faithful are very attached, is undoubtedly the most symbolic image. The church has a curious mixture of styles, looking like a farm, depending on which side you look at it.


The church is dedicated to Saint Radegonde and it is an XI century Roman building that was rebuilt in the XVI century.


But who was Saint Radegonde?


Saint Radegonde was a princess, King Berthar´s daughter, one of the three kings of Thuringia, present-day Germany. These three kings were brothers and the power struggles caused one of them, Hermanfroy, to kill the other kings and brothers, among them, Radegonde´s father.


King Theodore and his confederate Clotario took over the land, defeating Hermanfroy and taking over the princess Radegonde, who years later, became Clotario´s fourth wife becoming Frances´ Queen.


Known for her extreme humility and Christian devotion, she never wanted to become a queen. For the wedding ceremony, it was required that she was dressed to match her position, representing her future husband´s power and prosperity. But she appeared at the ceremony in a very simple dress demonstrating Christian humility. All the comments at that time indicated that the king had not married a princess, but a nun!


During a banquet, she refused to eat, preferring to fast, giving the food to the poor, to whom she dedicated her entire pious and charitable life.


After a murder committed by her husband, the king, Radegonde ended up escaping from the court, entering in a convent to become a novice, escaping from her husband. Then she sold all her jewelry and founded a convent in Poitiers, where she personally attended to the sick. After Radegonde´s death, according to the legend, her remains were brought to Giverny. They also believed that her body is buried underneath the Saint Radegonde´s stone, a megalithic dolmen located next to the church. Her tomb is actually in the church of the same name in Poitiers city.


Behind the church is the local cemetery where Claude Monet and his entire family are buried.


Address:


Église de Sante Radegonde (Saint Radegonde Church)


53 Rue Claude Monet (Claude Monet St.) Giverny.

FOLLOWING THE IMPRESSIONISM´S STEPS


Giverny village, known as the painter´s colony, attracts millions of tourists every year searching those places where the great impressionist artists left their mark. It was Claude Monet´s chosen place to spend the rest of his days. “I am delighted, for me Giverny is a splendid village.” Monet was a nomad and once he found his paradise, he never left it.


Giverny is also a passage place for American impressionists and famous painters like Cezane, Pisarro, Rodin or Renoir.


On our Giverny tour, we will follow those impressionists´ footsteps, the ones who found refuge here.
When American painters followed in Monet´s footsteps and discovered Giverny, there was no hotel in the village. These young people´s enthusiasm succeeded in convincing Madame Baudy
to rent some rooms and she allowed creating a small atelier on some areas of her house, which eventually became a real hotel. It was a meeting place and effervescence of this movement.


What do you think if we start our tour at the former Baudy Hotel located at 81 Claude Monet St.?


From here, the place where the American Impressionists stayed, we can continue our steps down Claude Monet St. where we find the Foundation of this great artist very close by. We also know that we can find his house and famous gardens, and that at the entrance of the foundation we will find his Atelier. Monet loved painting surrounded by nature, but he also had an atelier in his house. This space is currently the foundation´s boutique store, where you will find all kinds of souvenirs and objects related to his life and work.


Walking down the street, you will find at number 99 the Impressionism Museum, situated on the hill where Monet painted his famous “Meules à Giverny” (Haystacks). The original painting is in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.


The Impressionism Museum was born in 2009 with the objective of spreading the origins and the influence that impressionism had in the world, replacing the Museum of American Art located in this same place since 1992. There are some wonderful gardens that compete in beauty with Monet´s gardens that will surprise us on our little tour.


As we enter the Impressionism Museum Gardens, we will discover the different environments. In the white garden there is an area dedicated to aromatic plants and roses. On the east side is the original black garden. A central corridor leads through rooms of different colors, blue flower beds, and a wide range of colors. The pink garden, with a great combination of soft and lively tones, leads us to the foot of a hill where we will see a large field of 1,500 square meters, where we will continue our pleasant walk. During spring and summer time, this meadow becomes a huge impressionist painting full of poppies, chamomiles and bluebell flowers and a multitude of other wild flowers. These flowers appear in August in place of the large rolls of hay and straw, which were also a favorite subject of the impressionist painters.


These gardens with this large meadow will make us feel like we are inside a great impressionist painting with its wonderful explosion of color and freshness. Admission to the gardens is free.


Address:
Nowadays the old Baudy hotel is a restaurant.
81 Rue Claude Monet (Claude Monet St.)
Open every day from 9.30 A.M. till 6.00 P.M. from April 1st till November 1st.


Impressionism Museum
99 Rue Claude Monet (Claude Monet St.) Giverny
Free admission to the gardens

WATER GARDEN


A space that inspires infinite peace with its generous exotic vegetation next to a lake full of water lilies, this is it: the water garden.


Claude Monet was always attracted to the play of light and the clouds reflection on the water. There are many paintings that show this fascination with inverted reflection in liquid mirrors. Therefore, Monet decided to print this impression to give a continuous and living inspiration.


In 1893, ten years after his arrival in Giverny, he bought a piece of land near his garden, on the other side of the train tracks, where it is possible to access through an underground tunnel. A small river runs through this land: the Ruz, which Monet used to create a lake.


The lake became the water garden, another of his great creations. On both sides of the lake, he placed his famous Japanese bridge and he painted it green to differentiate it from the traditional red used in Japan. He felt a very strong attraction for Japanese culture and this atmosphere is portrayed with the presence of some plants such as: bamboo, banana trees, weeping willows and other plants that fit beautifully into the lake.


Over the years, Monet has planted more than 240 water lily pads in the waters of the lake. To preserve these plants, the water of the lake must not exceed 16°C. Monet spent 30 years of his life creating 250 large-scale lily pads paintings.


Always seeking to restore the sky surface, concentrating on color stains on the water, he
took his painting to the limit of abstract art, realizing one of his masterpieces evoking a world of emotions and sensations.


Monet loved water as much as he loved flowers. He was so proud of his aquatic garden, that used to receive his guests there. Every leaf that fell was removed so that everything would always be perfect.


Monet created his garden during the World War I. The existing peace of his creation was interrupted
by the noise of the bombs and machine guns. His personal contribution was painting pictures with weeping willows, a traditional symbol of mourning, which he converted into an eloquent expression of pain and response to the war.


Address:
Le Jardin d´eau (Water Garden)
84 Rue Claude Monet (Claude Monet St.) Giverny