Jax Stumpes: Giverny (7/5/2016)

Tuesday, July 5, 2016
We had arrived in Vernon, France.
After breakfast, we boarded the motor coaches according to our assigned letter. On the bus, the guide used the speaker system of the bus. While walking, we had QuietVox receivers with an ear piece to listen to the tour guide. In order to be sure you were listening to your own particular guide, you ran the tip of the receiver over a specially encoded laminated sheet, to tune into the proper frequency.
The bus left Vernon by crossing the Pont/Bridge Clemenceau over the Seine.

Old bridge abutments and Vieux Moulin/Old Mill (Maybe 16C)

After only about 10 minutes, we arrived in the town of Giverny, to see the house and gardens of artist Claude Monet.

Rue Claude Monet, the main street in Giverny (KSS)

Behind the Impressionism Museum is a field of poppies,
and in season there will be haystacks, like those painted by Monet

Bee in unidentified flower (KSS)

A neighbor of Monet

A peek into the neighbor's garden across the alley from Monet

Monet's second studio (1980s)

The alley next to Monet's property
with overhanging kiwi plants

Baby kiwis

Our group was taken first to the Jardin d'Eau/Water Garden. In 1883, Monet purchased additional land across the railroad tracks from his house. Ru Brook that crossed the land was dammed to form a pond. Inspired by Japanese prints, Monet had local craftsmen build a Japanese-style arched bridge that was then covered with wisteria. The Japanese bridge and waterlily pond were subjects of many Monet paintings.

Entering the Jardin d'eau/Water Garden (KSS)

Ru Brook

Monet left some old trees on the property so that
the garden would look established from the beginning

Japanese Bridge (a replica of the original)

Weeding the waterlily pond (KSS)

Rose trellis by the pond

Rhubarb (or so we were told!)

Gunnera manicata from South America

Waterlily pond

By 1912, Monet was going blind with cataracts, so he painted the changing reflections of the pond's surface.

Passing the Japanese Bridge again

"Monet's flat-bottom boat by the bamboo grove (KSS)

We walked back through the passageway under the railroad tracks, to see Clos Normand/Walled-in Norman Garden. When Monet purchased this property in 1890, it was an orchard divided by an allée of evergreens. He left two of the yew trees and some of the fruit trees, and began planting flowers in rows of flowerbeds with varying height and seasons of bloom.

Monet apparently liked to have climbing roses
popping up here and there on trellises

The allée now has arched rose trellises,
and the path is lined with nasturtiums

You can barely see his house through the garden growth

There is some color, even in July

Flowerbeds (KSS)

Orchid Dahlia

Scabiosa atropurpurea 'Black' (KSS)

Low espaliered apple trees

White Polish chickens?

Escargot! (KSS)

Rose trellis allée at the house end

Monet's house with walls covered with crushed brick

For the tour of the house, the guide could not continue speaking while inside, so she stayed outside to talk, and we could continue to listen while inside!
Monet discovered the village of Giverny when passing it in a train. He rented this farmhouse in 1883, and moved in with his mistress, Alice Hoschedé (she married him when her husband died in 1891), his two sons, and her six children. In 1890 he was able to purchase the house and garden.

Monet's first studio now displays excellent copies of his
paintings and those of his friends

Paintings of Monet's first wife, Camille (who died
in 1879), and his two sons, Jean and Michel (KSS)

The family's 18C rolltop desk (KSS)

Monet's bedroom

View from Monet's bedroom

Blanche Hoschedé-Monet’s bedroom

Alice's daughter, Blanche, married Monet's son, Jean. She became the caretaker of the home when Claude Monet died in 1926.

Yellow-painted dining room, nearly every room downstairs
has walls covered Monet's collection of Japanese prints

Apparently, while all of Monet's original paintings are elsewhere, his collection of Japanese prints are what we saw in his home! Many are from Katsushika Hokusai (23) and Utagawa Hiroshige (48).

Pottery on the dining room mantel (KSS)

Kitchen pots

Tiled kitchen (KSS)

Blue Rouen tiles

Monet's third studio (1915)

Monet's house

After the tour, we had 45 minutes free time. We headed up the main street of Giverny.

White Garden of the Impressionism Museum,
which was closed in preparation for a new exhibit

Hollyhocks along Rue Claude Monet

Lingering wisteria

Église Sainte-Radegonde de Giverny
(11C apse, 15-16C)

Monument to the seven crew members of a
Royal Air Force MK I Lancaster plane that was
shot down by Germans June 8, 1944;
they are buried in the cemetery (KSS)

The Monet family grave site, including Claude Monet

Church cemetery

French WWII War Memorial (KSS)

A megalithic monument, referred to as St Radegonde's Grave,
where pilgrims would come for healing of scabies/skin diseases

Église Sainte-Radegonde apse

Stained glass window of St Roch/Rocco and his dog;
he is the patron saint of dogs!

St Radegonde

Statue of St Louis d'Anjou
(14C polychrome stone)

Alley off Rue Claude Monet

Hôtel Baudy

In 1886, American artist William Metcalf wandered into Giverny and had a meal in a small café. He became enamored with the town, and returned with friends. The owner of the café, Angela Baudy, offered them her own room to stay overnight. She also had them meet Claude Monet. Baudy decided to expand her business into a hotel and restaurant, and even built an artist's studio, thus the beginning of the American artists' colony in Giverny.