150 years ago almost to the day, the first Impressionist exhibition was held at the photographer Nadar's in Paris, in the presence of Édouard Degas, Berthe Morisot, Auguste Renoir and Claude Monet. As events multiply around this prestigious anniversary, the house and extraordinary gardens of the painter of
Water Lilies
in Giverny reopen to the public this Friday, March 29. Like every year, this reopening celebrates spring and the blooming of flowers.
For the tourist site, this new season comes after a very good year 2023. “
We are beyond satisfied
,” smiles Hugues Gall, director of the House and Gardens of Claude Monet - Giverny since 2008.
Between April 1 and on November 1, 2023, we broke all the attendance ceilings. We recorded 750,000 visitors. That's an incredible number. An absolute record.
It is therefore a safe bet that many visitors will flock to the gates of the small village of Eure this Friday.
The best and only technique to avoid crowds and be sure of getting your ticket is to reserve it on the internet and to favor morning times, between 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.
,” recalls the former director of the Paris National Opera. .
Overcrowding to fear?
The success of Claude Monet's gardens is such that Hugues Gall's main challenge is not attendance, but overcrowding. “
When, in 2019, we observed a first attendance record with 721,000 visitors, we prayed that we would not welcome many more. Then Covid arrived: I wasn't asking for that much...
" Indeed, and despite a quota system for visitors per hour not to be exceeded, the queue can be long and harm the visitor's experience . “
From a certain number, it can even become a problem for the entire village of Giverny
,” he says, pointing in particular to the question of parking spaces.
The reputation of Giverny, first thanks to Claude Monet who settled there in 1883 by furnishing his home as well as a “
painting executed directly from nature
”, has gone far beyond the French borders. The tourist site, which employs eleven permanent gardeners, is the second most visited in Normandy behind Mont-Saint-Michel. And if the French have always represented 50% of visitors (mostly Ile-de-France residents), foreign tourists are flocking more and more. To the Americans and Japanese who are loyal tourists of the place, we now add the Chinese and South Koreans. “
Tour operators and cruise lines have become very important to us
,” explains the director in place since 2008.
“They go up the Seine and inevitably stop at Giverny
.”
Ahead of spring
Restored at the end of the 1970s, the Giverny sanctuary was Claude Monet's refuge between 1883 and 1926. Yan Bernard-Guilbaud / Le Figaro
For Hugues Gall, the success of the estate is largely due to its incredible permanence. “
We try to ensure that the spirit, the colors and the lights that Monet knew remain the same
.
It is a completely atypical garden, which represents the renewed creation in the spirit, and sometimes in the letter, of Claude Monet. This is particularly true for the water garden and its famous water lilies
(advice to fans: you can only enjoy the water lilies in flower in July-August-September, Editor's note).” Some plants are contemporary with the painter, he adds. “
The two wisteria that intertwine around the Japanese bridge were planted by Monet, as well as a red beech.
»
Head gardener Jean-Marie Avisard also indicates that, like in recent years, the garden is ahead of spring. “
Daffodils and hyacinths already rub shoulders with magnificent pansies
,” he assures on the estate’s website.
Visitors may not enjoy the magnolia in the water garden which is already very flowery!
» In the section of (rare) novelties, he mentions “
new alliums and tulips
”, the return of the Shirley tulip with “
white flowers bordered with purplish
”, two new willows planted last November and announces the introduction of a “
exotic water lily
” in the coming weeks.
Claude Monet house and gardens, 84 rue Claude Monet 27620 Giverny
Tel. : 02 32 51 28 21. €11 for an adult, free for children under 7 years old. It is strongly recommended to
book online
.