How to Visit Monet's Giverny Home and Gardens

Many great artists have had signature works and motifs. Picasso often painted bulls and harlequins. Keith Haring did faceless stick figures. Warhol did multiple image silkscreen portraits. Impressionist Claude Monet was best known for his paintings of water lilies--water lilies in all sorts of lights and conditions. Today you can see where Monet painted his water lilies--they still grow in a garden of Monet's own design, at his home in Giverny, near Paris.

Instructions

1. Arrive at Monet's home in Giverny. The property is located at 84 rue Claude Monet. It's open from April 1 to October 31, Tuesday through Sunday, and bank holiday Mondays from 9:30am to 6pm. No one is admitted after 5:30pm. Arrive early to beat the crowds. Admission is charged.

2. Tour the Monet house. Go in through the blue entrance hall and turn right into the dining room. Its chrome yellow walls are covered with Japanese prints, while the table is set with and the cabinets are filled with blue and white china. To the right of this is the kitchen, which is lined with blue and white tiles. Most of the west wall is dominated by a huge period stove, while copper pots and saucepans hang from the north wall. On the east end of the room is a door that leads down to the wine cellar/tool shed.

3. Retrace your steps into the entrance hall and turn left into the blue salon, which was used as a family room and library. And yes, even the grandfather clock in this room is blue. To the left of this is the épicerie--a pantry, linen room and cloakroom, with a staircase . Beyond this and down some steps is the studio drawing room. After Monet had the second studio constructed outside, this room served as a study and display room of Monet's work.

4. Climb the stairs in the épicerie up to Monet's bedroom. This ivory-colored room was used to display highlights of Monet's art collection. Its furnishings include a large mirror and a roll-top desk. Turn left into Monet's pale blue dressing room, which includes more Japanese prints and a marble wash stand. The dressing room of Monet's wife Alice is next to this and is fairly similar to that of Monet, except the walls are pale green and the doors are pale blue. To the east of this is Alice Monet's large green and blue bedroom, which has windows on the north and south sides of the house. The door to the east leads to the landing for the main staircase and the laundry room. The daughters' bedrooms are on the east end of the house, while the boys slept in the attic, though none of these rooms are open to the public.

5. Go down the main staircase, through the entrance hall and outside. Turn left, pass the pleached limes and go to the Second Studio. To the left are the hothouses. Retrace your steps and go east of the house, past the hen yard, to the Waterlily Studio. In this large, 50 foot high, sky-lit building, Monet painted his famous "Grandes Décorations des Nymphéas," which are now on display in Paris at the Orangerie in the Tuileries Gardens.

6. Proceed clockwise past the gardener's house and the arched Grand Allée, taking note of the flower garden. (You can only walk around its outskirts.) Go then to the southwest corner of the flower garden, to the entrance to the underground passage to water garden. This tunnel was necessary back in the days when a train ran through Monet's property. At the end of the tunnel is the water garden, with its irregularly-shaped pond, filled with waterlilies and spanned by a reproduction of the famous Japanese bridge.