Twee Hectare · Twee Tuinen · Één Visie

Monets Tuin in Giverny

Claude Monet schilderde geen bloemen om daarna naar binnen te gaan. Hij ontwierp de tuin als een levend canvas — en schilderde vervolgens wat hij had gemaakt. In 43 jaar in Giverny correspondeerde hij met kwekerijen op drie continenten, had hij zes voltijdse tuiniers in dienst en gaf hij meer uit aan planten dan aan verf.

De Clos Normand: Een Buitenste Atelier

The Clos Normand is the garden that stretches in front of Monet's pink-and-green house. Covering roughly 1.2 hectares, it is structured according to principles that appear obvious today but were revolutionary in the 1880s: beds of warm colours placed beside cool ones, a calculated flowering succession designed to last from April through November, and a marked preference for unimproved varieties — single dahlias, wild iris, corn poppies.

The great central allée, flanked by two rows of climbing roses on metal arches, is perhaps the most photographed composition in the garden. But Monet designed it as a corridor of light, not a postcard backdrop: the rose colours were selected to create chromatic transitions that only he truly perceived, since he was partially colour-blind and saw reds differently from most people.

The large arches smothered in nasturtiums (Tropaeolum majus) that span the central path in summer are another signature. Monet liked flowers to spill onto the paths — the gardeners today maintain this tradition by deliberately allowing nasturtiums to colonise the gravel.

Vertical structure is provided by climbing roses (notably 'American Pillar', 'Veilchenblau', 'Dorothy Perkins'), clematis, and wisteria. Low planting is layered: spring bulbs (tulips, daffodils, muscari) beneath summer annuals (cosmos, zinnias, marigolds), themselves beneath autumn dahlias. This succession calendar — designed so that there is never a single flowerless day between April and November — is a horticultural tour de force that Monet took a decade to calibrate.

The garden is divided into sixteen square beds arranged in a grid pattern on either side of the central path and two lateral paths. Each bed is colour-themed — Monet had beds he called "the red beds," "the blue beds," and "the white beds," though in practice each contained dozens of species chosen for chromatic compatibility rather than botanical kinship. He famously declared: "My garden is my most beautiful work of art."

Spring begins in early April with daffodils and tulips, followed by wallflowers (Erysimum) and forget-me-nots. By late April the peonies emerge, followed by irises in May — the iris beds of the Clos Normand contain over 150 varieties, many sourced by Monet from specialist growers in Orleans and California. June brings roses to their peak, with hundreds of varieties including the rare mauve-to-purple 'Veilchenblau' that runs along the main arches. July and August see the full explosion of annuals — cosmos, cleome, scabiosa, and the towering dahlias. September and October deliver the late-season dahlias and asters in their full autumn richness.

De Watertuin: Monets Tweede Schepping

The water garden covers roughly 0.8 hectares and is separated from the Clos Normand by the Route Nationale D5 and the Paris-Rouen railway line — a pedestrian tunnel under the tracks connects them today. Monet purchased this marshy land in 1893, ten years after arriving in Giverny, and had to petition the prefect for permission to divert the Epte river to create his pond. Neighbouring farmers objected, fearing his "exotic plants" would contaminate their fields.

The Japanese bridge, constructed in 1895, was modified several times. Its parabolic arch form is inspired by the ukiyo-e woodblock prints by Hiroshige and Hokusai that Monet collected and displayed in his yellow dining room. In 1901 he had it covered with wisteria (Wisteria sinensis and W. floribunda), creating the distinctive silhouette that appears in dozens of his canvases.

The pond itself is fed by the Epte. Its depth varies between 1 and 2.5 metres. The water lilies — Nymphaea alba, N. odorata, and numerous hybrids sourced from the Latour-Marliac nursery in Lot-et-Garonne — cover roughly 40 percent of the water's surface in summer. They are arranged in seven floating "islands" separated by corridors of open water, which creates the sky reflections and weeping willow shadows that obsessed Monet in his Nymphéas series.

Monet painted the water garden obsessively from 1896 until his death in 1926, producing over 250 canvases devoted entirely to the pond's surface. The final series, the monumental Grandes Décorations, comprises eight triptychs installed permanently in the Orangerie museum in Paris. Each panel is up to six metres wide; together they form a continuous panorama 90 metres in circumference that the artist intended as "an asylum of peaceful meditation." He worked on these canvases for 12 years, largely blind in his right eye, refusing to stop until the final installation in 1927 — completed one year after his death by the craftsmen he had instructed.

The weeping willows around the pond are replaced every 20 to 30 years when they reach the end of their lifespan. The foundation uses cuttings rather than new plants, preserving the exact drooping habit Monet painted. Bamboo on the east bank — which he considered "bamboo is not a plant but a line" — was installed in 1900 and has been the subject of vigorous containment ever since, as Japanese knotweed and bamboo both threaten to destabilise the pond's banks.

Monet als Plantkenner: Variëteiten en Bronnen

Monet sourced plants from suppliers across the globe. His correspondence archives — held at the Musée Marmottan — document exchanges with the Yokohama Nursery in Tokyo, the Vilmorin brothers in Paris, Barr & Sons in London, and the Latour-Marliac house in Temple-sur-Lot. For iris, he sourced primarily from Léon Chenault in Orléans, considered the foremost iris hybridiser in France in the early twentieth century.

His planting philosophy was deliberately anti-Victorian. While bourgeois French gardens of the era sought geometry, symmetry, and so-called "improved" plants (large double flowers, saturated colours), Monet preferred natural forms: single peonies over double, sword-leaved irises over ornamental cultivars, wild cosmos over selected zinnias. He categorically refused bedding begonias and potted geraniums.

The dahlias at Giverny deserve particular attention. Monet grew primarily the Bishop series (deep burgundy with dark foliage, providing contrast against warm yellows), ball dahlias for geometric punctuation, and the now-fashionable café-au-lait type — though that variety did not exist in his time. Today's gardeners use the closest equivalents: 'Arabian Night', 'Karma Choc', and 'Gitts Crazy' for dark drama; 'Bishop of Llandaff' for the original Monet palette.

The water lilies are the most technically complex plants in the garden. The Latour-Marliac nursery — the only commercial nursery in the world producing reliably coloured water lily hybrids in the 1890s — supplied Monet with named varieties including 'Laydekeri Rosea', 'Froebeli' (deep rose), 'James Brydon' (crimson), and 'Marliacea Chromatella' (pale yellow). These original Marliac varieties are still grown today at the nursery in Lot-et-Garonne; the foundation uses cuttings propagated from the original Giverny stock where possible.

De Tuin Vandaag: Restauratie en Tuinbouw

The 1977–1980 restoration, led by conservator Gérald van der Kemp and head gardener Gilbert Vahé, was based on Monet's order notebooks, cadastral surveys, and period photographs taken by Étienne Clémentel between 1917 and 1921 for the French Army's photographic service. These stereoscopic photographs, discovered in the National Archives, provided precise data on the placement, height, and girth of plants at a specific date in the garden's history.

The current team of seven full-time gardeners (supplemented by ten seasonal workers) follows a rigorous horticultural calendar. Water lilies are divided every three to five years to prevent overcrowding. Climbing roses on the arches are hard-pruned in January to maintain their form. Dahlias are lifted after the first frost, stored in sand-filled boxes, and replanted in May.

The greatest ongoing challenge is the water garden's ecological balance. The pond is fed by the Epte and drained periodically for maintenance. Algal bloom — exacerbated by the high nutrient load from visiting birds and airborne deposition — requires seasonal management. Since 2010, the foundation has used biological control (specially bred carp and barley straw extraction) rather than chemical algaecides, which would damage the water lily roots.

Climate change has already shifted the garden's phenology: cherry blossoms now peak around April 5th rather than April 20th (the date Monet noted in his garden journals). The iris peak has moved forward by 8–10 days since the 1990s. The foundation's head horticulturalist told us in 2024: "We are replanting with more heat-tolerant varieties, but we resist changing the palette. Monet's colour was specific. We cannot just substitute."

Annual maintenance costs exceed €1 million. The foundation is partly funded by admission revenue (around 700,000 visitors per year), partly by a private endowment established by American donors during the original restoration. The Fondation Claude Monet owns and manages the property; the French state holds the classification as a Monument Historique.

Uw Bezoek Plannen

The garden opens at 9:30 am. Arrive before 10 am on weekdays to avoid the main tour-group wave, which typically arrives between 10:30 and 12:00. On weekends in June–July, queues can form by 9:15 am; book timed-entry tickets online. The water garden and house are on a single ticket. Photography is permitted throughout; tripods are not allowed during peak season.

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