Fondation Monet in Giverny facts for kids

"Monet's garden" redirects here. For the racehorse, see Monet's Garden (horse).

Quick facts for kids
Fondation Claude Monet
Monet's house from the garden
Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 420: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
Established	1980 (1980)
Location	Giverny, France
Visitors	530,000 (2010)

The Fondation Claude Monet is a special place in Giverny, France. It takes care of the house and gardens where the famous artist Claude Monet lived. Monet spent 43 years here, creating beautiful paintings. He loved his gardens and spent many years making them perfect. He planted thousands of flowers because he felt inspired by nature. Monet believed it was important to paint outside. He painted many famous pictures of his home and gardens. Some of his most well-known paintings show the water lilies in his pond, the Japanese bridge, and a weeping willow tree.

In 2010, over 530,000 people visited this amazing place. It is the second most visited tourist spot in Normandy, after Mont Saint-Michel. The house and gardens are recognized for their amazing beauty. They are called Maisons des Illustres (Houses of Famous People) and a Jardin Remarquable (Remarkable Garden). The whole property was officially named a monument historique (historic monument) in 1976. Many of Monet's paintings of these gardens, especially the water lilies, are shown in art museums all over the world.

A Look at Monet's Home and Gardens
Bringing the Gardens Back to Life
Inside Monet's House
Exploring the Gardens
- Famous Paintings of the Garden
Monet's Japanese Art Collection
See also

A Look at Monet's Home and Gardens

Claude Monet working in his large studio, which is now the gift shop

Claude Monet lived and painted in Giverny from 1883 until he passed away in 1926. He personally oversaw the changes to his house. He kept its unique pink walls. Inside, he used colors from his own painting palette. The doors and shutters were green. The dining room was bright yellow and had Japanese art from the 1700s and 1800s. The kitchen was a lovely blue. Monet even had part of the nearby Epte river moved to create his gardens. He hired up to seven gardeners to help him care for them. Monet found much of his artistic ideas from his gardens. He truly believed it was important to be surrounded by nature and paint outdoors.

When Monet died in 1926, his son Michel inherited the property. Michel never spent much time in Giverny. So, Blanche Hoschedé Monet looked after the garden. Blanche was the daughter of Alice Hoschedé and the wife of Jean Monet. She cared for the garden with the help of the head gardener, Louis Lebret. After Blanche died in 1947, the garden was no longer looked after.

Michel Monet died in a car accident in 1966. He had no children. He left the estate to the Académie des beaux-arts, a famous French art academy. Starting in 1977, Gérald Van der Kemp, who worked at the Palace of Versailles, helped restore the neglected house and gardens. They were in very bad shape. To get money, he and his wife Florence asked for help from American donors. They worked hard to bring the property back to life. A lot of work was needed. The floors and ceiling beams were rotting. A staircase had even fallen down. Most of the windows in the greenhouse and house were broken. Three large trees had started growing inside Monet's studio. An American helper named Walter Annenberg paid for a special tunnel. This tunnel made it easier for visitors to reach the water garden without crossing a busy road.

The Fondation Claude Monet was officially started in 1980. The estate became a public place. It quickly became very popular. Now, it welcomes visitors from France and all over the world. It is open from April to November each year.

When Gérald Van der Kemp died in 2001, his wife Florence became the curator. She continued to improve the property until she passed away in 2008. Hugues Gall became the new Director of the Fondation Claude Monet in March 2008. Since it is one of France's most visited places, special plans are always in place to protect the garden for the future.

Bringing the Gardens Back to Life

The restored house and gardens

In the 1970s, Americans gave almost all of the $7 million needed to fix Monet's home and gardens. This was part of an effort to help France. At that time, France did not have the same tradition of private donations as America. In 1969, under U.S. President Richard M. Nixon, Americans could get tax breaks for giving money to charities. This helped save many old buildings in France. President Nixon encouraged Americans to donate to France. He felt it was a way to remember that the past is very important. For his help, Nixon was made a member of the Academie des Beaux-Arts.

The next ten years were spent making the garden and house look like they used to. Not much was left after World War II. The windows in the greenhouse and house were shattered from bombings. Floors and ceiling beams had rotted away. A staircase had collapsed. Three trees were even growing in the big studio. The pond had to be dug out again. In the Clos Normand garden, soil was removed to find the original ground level. Then, the same kinds of flowers that Monet had planted were put back.

British gardener James Priest was in charge of restoring Monet's garden. He learned about Monet's painting style, especially his watercolors. In 2014, Priest said that even though the garden had been changed by some past gardeners and was worn down by time, it was still beautiful. He noted that the lily ponds looked similar to how they were. He also worked to bring back Monet's original color ideas to the flower beds.

Inside Monet's House

Interior

Visitors can explore different parts of Monet's home:

The ground floor has the blue salon, which was a reading room. There's also the "épicerie" (a pantry), the living room/studio, the dining room, and the blue-tiled kitchen.
The first floor has the family bedrooms. This includes Monet's own room, which was updated in March 2013. You can also see Alice Hoschedé's bedroom and their private living areas. The room of Blanche Hoschedé Monet was also recreated in 2013. This was done using old records and things found in the house.
The studio next to the house is where Monet painted his huge Water Lilies paintings. Some of these are now in the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris. This studio is now the Foundation's gift shop.

Exploring the Gardens

The gardens are split into two main parts. Both have been restored to look just as Monet wanted them. There is the formal Clos-Normand garden and the water garden. The water garden has the famous water lilies pond and a Japanese bridge.

Monet designed the Clos-Normand garden himself when he moved to Giverny. He spent years turning it into a living outdoor painting. He planted thousands of flowers in neat, straight rows.

In 1893, Monet bought an empty piece of land across the road from the Clos-Normand. He turned this into a water garden. He did this by moving water from a small stream called Ru, which was part of the Epte river. This water garden became famous during his lifetime. He painted many huge pictures of its water lilies, known as the Nymphéas series. The water garden shows Monet's interest in Japan. It has a green Japanese bridge and plants from the East. The now famous water lilies were carefully looked after by a gardener whose only job was to tend to them.

Famous Paintings of the Garden

Peony Garden, 1887, National Museum of Western Art (Tokyo)
In the Garden, 1895, Fondation et Collection Emil G. Bührle (Zürich)
Water Lilies and the Japanese Bridge, 1897–1899, Princeton University Art Museum
The Artist's Garden at Giverny, 1900, Musée d'Orsay, (Paris)
The Artist's Garden at Giverny, 1900, Yale University Art Gallery, (New Haven)
The Garden in Flower, 1900
The Grand Walk at Giverny, 1900, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Water Lilies, 1906, Art Institute of Chicago
Flowering Arches, Giverny, 1913, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix
Yellow Irises, 1914, National Museum of Western Art (Tokyo)
The Path Through the Irises, 1914, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)
Agapanthus, 1914, Museum of Modern Art, (New York)
The House Through the Roses, 1917, Albertina, (Vienna)
Weeping Willow, 1918, Columbus Museum of Art
The Rose Path at Giverny, 1920, Musée Marmottan (Paris)
The House Among the Roses, 1925, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum (Madrid)
Wisteria, 1925, Kunstmuseum Den Haag (The Hague)

Monet's Japanese Art Collection

Most of Monet's paintings are kept at the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris. However, Monet's house in Giverny has its own special collection. It holds over 200 Japanese ukiyo-e prints. These prints are from the 1700s and 1800s. Some of the most famous artists in this collection include Kitagawa Utamaro (1753–1806), Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), and Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858).