Giverny--mistake?
 

Our plans are to spend a week in Giverny to spend lots of time at Monet's garden and do some painting. We plan on taking some day trips into Paris. Then we will rent a car in Vernon and leave for Normany for a few days. Have read some negative comments about Giverny. Should we rethink our plans? Sure appreciate the info. We are staying at Le Trou Normand.

Being closed would be a huge negative, so you should make sure you know the days and hours when Giverny is open. You might also need to check whether special permission is necessary in order to set up an easel or remain in a spot for an extended period painting/drawing/photographing. Sometimes special permission used to be granted to small groups of artists to enter and paint and also visit the house on days when the place was officially closed to the public, but I don't know whether that is still done.

I've never read any negative comments about Giverny except regarding the fact that it was closed on the day when someone planned to visit. I was there many years ago and loved it.

What negative comments have you heard about Giverny? I can't think of anything negative about it, but a full week there sounds like overkill to me unless you are really, really serious painters. The grounds are not that big, and there is nothing at all to do in Giverny essentially. Wouldn't you at least want to be in a town that had some cafés, shops, commerce? This really sounds like an odd plan to me, to be honest.

Giverny is open April through October, Tuesday to Sunday.

I don't know, it would bore me stiff, but if you mainly want to do a lot of painting, it could suit you. It's just a poky little town, nothing much there. I wouldn't choose that location for accessibility to Paris as you have to take the regular train and I wouldn't want to worry about the schedule nor pay the cost (11 euro each way), unless you only wanted to do that once.

If the painting is really important to you and the bulk of your time, it will be a special stay, I'm sure.

I'm not a fan of Giverny - nor am I a fan of Monet, so consider that when you read my remarks. I've found prettier gardens at dozens of other places in France - Villendry in the Loire is just one example. My wife thinks many of the plantings in the round-abouts in the roads are more interesting (we like formal Italian gardens more than English style gardens). One week would be about 6 3/4 too many days for me. The area around Givreny is not as scenic as other areas in Normandy & Brittany. Are you sure they will allow you to paint in the gardens? When we were there in late June, there were too many people to restfully paint any scenes (I'm not a painter). I also thought that much of the garden had not been kept up properly - many dead or dying plants. The pond was quite nice, however.

Stu Dudley

Actually, I was referring to Vernon, but now am thinking maybe you meant to actually stay in Giverny without a car? That's even smaller than Vernon.

When I said I was there many years ago, I meant for the day, not overnight. I was with a group or artists and art students, and we had permission to visit the house and gardens on a day when both were closed to the public. A few people set up easels to paint in one spot for hours. I think it might cause problems to do that on a day when it is open to the public, and I just wouldn't assume that it's allowed.

When are you going, tekla?

((I))

I love Monet and loved Giverny (seems the two are related).

I loved Giverny but a week may be overkill. We had a great dinner in Vernon about 2 mi away, stayed at a beautiful B&B, biked, saw the gardens, and then headed to another great B&B on a wheat farm near Pont Leveque.

We are huge lovers of Monet's work and our trip to Giverney was the high point of our two-week stay in Paris. Still, spending a week there does seem like a bit much. You can easily see and enjoy his home in one day. And, unless you plan to spend the rest of your time painting there (assuming that it's even allowed), like others, I suggest you alter your plans.

Who's to say what someone else would enjoy for a vacation but if you have never been to Giverny before why not make a back up reservation at a nice Normandy location just in case you change your mind upon arrival. Many hotels will allow you to cancel up until the day of arrival before 6 pm. Honfleur would be nice and Monet painted there too. No one would mind if you set up an easel there.

I thought about spending a week at Giverny once but decided to hike across the Sahara instead.

Larry J

Giverny is NOT a mistake. It's a small lovely place with much to see if one is an artist. Be sure to also go to the Americam Museum and the Antient Hotel Baudy that is where the American Impressionists stayed while there to paint and see Monet. Some stayed forever and Madame Baudy learned to cook turkey, Boston Baked beans and puddings for thwe artists. Some who have stayed at the Baudy are Paul Cézanne, Alexander Calder,Berbard Berensonwho were the few I remember from a list way over 700. No longer a hotel, it remains a cafe and sort of museum. The studio is out back. I took a great photo of it which they have. I never saw the upstairs where they boarded but you can fax to see if you can paint there , but in any event, visit the studio out back.
tel/fax: 02 32 21 10 03
I would think if you are working in oils, a week will not be too much, but for quick watercolr sketches, you may want to move on.

les andelys would also be a good place to paint, about an hour from giverny.

Thanks for all comments--we are going to rethink this. Painting classes are available at the American Museum and that's what we had lined up. Have zoomed around Europe before and wanted to just hang out in some French village. Hadn't been to Giverny.

Well, hanging out in a French village is one thing. Hanging out in Giverny, where there is absolutely zero going on is another. If you have a full week, and all of beautiful Normandy surrounding you, you should have a wealth of choices for both accommodations and painting.

When i visiews Giverny, I noticed there was an art school there in the town. Unfortunately, I didn't take the name of it, but perhaps you can search online and find it and they might know something about what is required. I spent a couple of days there, and was quite interested in the gardens, more specifically the pond, which I found that he built and planted for the purposes of achieving the series of waterlilies that he did near the end of his life, to study the way light passes over a watery surface.

I'm a painter also, afterwards I drove through foggy weather to Auvers, to visit the sites of many of Van Gogh's paintings, and loved the misty lanscapes on the way.