The Fondation Claude Monet is a nonprofit organisation that runs and preserves the house and gardens of Claude Monet in Giverny, France, where Monet lived and painted for 43 years. Monet was inspired by his gardens, and spent years transforming them, planting thousands of flowers. He believed that it was important to surround himself with nature and paint outdoors. He created many paintings of his house and gardens, especially of water lilies in the pond, the Japanese bridge, and a weeping willow tree.
With a total of 530,000 visitors in 2010, it is the second most visited tourist site in Normandy after the island of Mont Saint-Michel. The house and gardens have been recognised as among the Maisons des Illustres, and a Jardin Remarquable, rewarding their outstanding qualities. The estate was classified as a monument historique in 1976. Monet’s paintings of the gardens, especially the sites’ pond with water lilies, are exhibited in dozens of major collections.
The ground floor: the blue salon (the reading room), the “épicerie” (the larder), the living room/studio, the dining room and the blue-tiled kitchen.
The first floor: the family rooms, including Monet’s which was renovated in March 2013 as well as Alice Hoschedé‘s bedroom and their private apartments. Also visible is the room of Blanche Hoschedé, which was recreated in 2013 based on archives and existing elements present in the house.
The studio next to the home, where Monet painted his large Water Lilies paintings and murals, including those exhibited in Paris’ Musée de l’Orangerie. This studio is now the Foundation’s gift shop.
The Gardens are divided into two distinctive parts, which have been restored according to Monet’s own specifications, the formal Clos-Normand and the water garden with the water lilies pond and a Japanese bridge. The Clos-Normand was modelled after Monet’s own artistic vision when he settled in Giverny. He spent years transforming the garden into a living en plein air painting, planting thousands of flowers in straight-lined patterns. In 1893 Monet acquired a vacant piece of land across the road from the Clos-Normand which he then transformed into a water garden by diverting water from the stream Ru, an arm of the Epte river. That garden became famous during his lifetime with his series of monumental paintings of its water lilies, the Nymphéas. The water garden is marked by Monet’s fascination for Japan, with its green Japanese bridge and oriental plants. The now famous water lilies were meticulously tended by a gardener employed for that sole purpose.
