May 14

May 14 Giverny, France

Monet’s inspiration 🌷

Once we realized that our seemingly surreal study abroad experience in Paris was coming to a close, Alessa & I decided to spend our last weekend getaway in the most enchanting place- Monet’s home in Giverny. For the very last time, ( :( ) we bought a cheap ticket and jumped on a quick train that took us to somewhere new.

We arrived to Giverny, a village in the heart of Normandy, where the main attraction was Monet’s garden. We walked through this rural town that was in the middle of the countryside until we got to the Fondation Monet. Monet’s home is famously designed in his own image, he was the one that decided that the facade of his house should be covered by pink brick and that every room in the house should be a different color. Green was used for the outside shutters, the dining room was painted yellow, and the kitchen was blue- all colors that he used frequently in his palette. Even his own home was a work of art! But our favorite room of all was Monet’s studio/ drawing room. Here was the place that all of his famous painting were born, inspired by the beauty right outside his window. The garden outside his window is divided into two, with the closest part to the house being the flower garden. Monet himself devoted years to making sure this flower garden had the most colorful, exotic, and beautiful flowers that he could draw inspiration from. In the middle of Spring, this garden was in full bloom during our visit and rows of colorful flowers could be seen all around.

The second part is the water garden, which was created in the image of Japanese water gardens. Monet even had oriental flowers planted and had a Japanese bridge made that allows visitors to see the now famous water garden from all angles. Here is where his most famous works of art, the Water Lillies or “Nymphéas” in French, were imagined. The entirety of the garden, but especially the water garden is breathtaking. It’s crazy to think that Claude Monet was inspired by the same thing we were looking at, even though it's not hard to see why with so such stunning scenery, to paint one of the most famous paintings of our time. Anyone that is considering visiting these gardens should not only go in the spring but should go after the rainy month of April.

There was no better way to end my time living in Paris than to see Monet’s inspiration for the 360° Water Lillies that I saw in l’Orangerie on my first day of living in Paris. I could not have been more grateful for everything that living in Paris had taught me. *Cue the study abroad girl tears*