~Afternoon in Giverny~

Giverny is a small village 50 miles west of Paris.  It sits on the Right Bank of the Seine where it meets the river Epte.  Monet discovered Giverny on a train ride and decided that he wanted to live there.  He rented the house and property in 1883 and finally bought it in 1890.  He lived there until he died in 1923.
The house, the gardens and the pond are prominent in Monet's paintings.  The Japanese footbridge famous in many of his waterlily paintings.

You can take a train, rent a car, take a bike tour or bus tour to Giverny.  We took a tour.  The first thing that was so noticeable to me was how small the grounds were.  I was expecting a large rambling garden with pond.  Take that vision and compress it.  The gardens were 'wild' with flowers. I fell in love with the yellow and blue kitchen in the house (and now have a yellow bedroom).

Paris and Monet are synonymous.  The best places for viewing Monet's art are; Musee d'Orsay, Louvre, the extensive collection at the Musee Marmottan and the spectacular waterlily panels at Musee l'Orangerie.

A few photos from our Afternoon in Giverny.

On the right is a photo I found of Monet on the footbridge in 1922.

 The dahlias were HUGE~simply gorgeous.

The house is quite distinctive with it's pink exterior and bright green shutters.

A few of my favorite Monet paintings:

 This is one of my favorites~the Rouen Cathedral.  He did a study of the facade at different times of the day.  These paintings are in the Musee Marmottan in Paris.

 One of the many waterlily paintings.  The large 8 foot panels at the Musee l'Orangerie in Paris are breathtaking.

This is one of the many paintings of boats~"Regatta at Argentueil".  This painting can be seen at the Musee d' Orsay.

I love the impressionists..and each of the mentioned museums have wonderful collections.

This was a painting that I did from my photograph of the Japanese footbridge...it hangs in the "yellow" bedroom.