A-day-trip on a sunny day of May to Monet’s Garden in Giverny, 50 miles north from Paris, was unexpected yet turned out to be unforgettable lovely.
The Garden is known as Monet’s living painting and the desire to visit it came after we saw Monet’s “Nympheas” at the Musee de l’Orangerie. This art gallery contains impressionist paintings by Renoir, Matisse, Picasso, Cezanne, etc. On the upper floor at the Museum, a pair of oval-shaped rooms were designed/build particularly for Monet’s waterlilies.
Visitors enter the room with a gasp: breathtaking gigantic masterpieces, 8 of them, bathed in natural lights filtered from the roof, the way that the Master self originally intended to. The size of the paintings are so striking, maybe the biggest drawings in modern art history. Normally it would take an artist years to finish one in such scale, but Monet did 8 of them– at his 80’s while suffered from eyesight disease. I was simply hit by these Nympheas. One feels the Master’s passion and soul in these paintings. One would be drawn close to these waterlilies, into them and would wonder how the transformations were created from the reality onto the canvas by one of the greatest Master in the history ever.
Tips: 1) Allow time of one day for the trip to Monet’s Garden. After the train’s arrival, take a taxi or the shuttle bus (right side outside the train station). But be quick since the bus would be packed and count for seriously 30 minutes for checking on the bus. click here for more travel details.
2) Be patience for the long line at the entrance of the Garden. You might take your lunch break ahead at a nearby restaurant decorated in charming french country-style, afterward you can take time and enjoy the garden fully.
A Chinese Docent 