Claude Monet lived from 1883 to 1926 in Giverny. His two main passions were gardening and colours, his garden and watercolors were true works of art. In his house and gardens one can still feel the atmosphere of this well known Impressionist artist. Claude Monet noticed the village of Giverny while looking out of a train window. He made up his mind to move there and rented a house and the area surrounding it. In 1890 he had enough money to buy the house and land outright and set out to create the magnificent gardens he wanted to paint. Some of his most famous paintings were of his garden in Giverny, famous for its rectangular Clos Normand. Monet lived in the house with its famous pink crushed brick façade from 1883 until his death in 1926. He and many members of his family are interred in the village cemetery.

We will leave your hotel, cruise ship etc and drive to the area in upper Normandy known as Giverny. It is an hour and a half from Le Havre and 2h15 from Bayeux. We will then visit the museum learning about Monet and his life and works in Giverny and other artists such as Willard Metcalf, Louis Ritman, Theodore Wendel, John Leslie Breck, and Theodore Earl Butler, who married Monet’s stepdaughter. Also about the second wave of American painters such as Richerd E Miller In December 1910, six of the Giverny artists (Frieseke, Miller, Lawton S Parker and Guy Rose known as “The Giverny Group. ” We can then have lunch in the area according to your preferences and spend the afternoon viewing the spectacular gardens created by Monet himself including climbing plants entwined around coloured shrubs, and the water garden, formed by a tributary to the Epte with the Japanese bridge, the pond with the water lilies, the wisterias and the azaleas.