Giverny was an absolutely magical place. After one bus, one train, one subway, another train and a taxi ride (in a bmw taxi!) later we arrived in Giverny. We started the time with some lively discussions about life, truth and reality while we cracked open the champagne and spent time with our professors and host from the Terra Foundation. Here’s what my days in Giverny consisted of: wake up around 8, take a bike ride through the beautiful one lane town, coffee on the house’s terrace, bath in the gigantic bathroom with a heated towel rack, start painting around 10, paint til lunch – lunch with all of Marchutz at the Museum of Impressionisms (yes, Impressionisms – as in plural), another painting – home. Wash up, check the computer, start playing card games, dinner arrives from the catering service (sounds great, but the food was pretty crappy and they actually forgot to feed us one night…oupla!), wine with friends, hang out on the terrace, night painting on the terrace with everyone – sleep, wakeup, repeat. Yes. This is my life. Two months into my time in France and I still can’t believe I’m here!
In Giverny I painted two oil pieces and started experimenting with watercolors. You’re not allowed to paint with an easel in Monet’s gardens (because we’d take up too much room) but you are allowed to paint sitting down or draw sitting down. At one point there were 6 of us sitting next to each other on two benches and we had an entourage of people watching us. I was sitting on the end of the bench and lots of little kids would come over and watch me draw and paint. It was probably the cutest thing ever. One charming little French kid asked, “How do you know what to paint?” And I was just like, “Good question! Ummm…I like colors so I choose the ones I like!” Another cute little boy was maybe a year and a half old and he was adorable! He was a little too rambunctious for his family by the time they got to the bench I was sitting on and the mom passed me a smile full of gratitude when he settled down and watched me watercolor for almost an hour. So charming!
We visited Monet’s house along with his gardens one day. His house is a long, thin building with hundreds of Japanese prints decorating the walls. They’re stunning. His studio is also grand and has racks he used to display all of his works for visitors. The colors of the house are definitely the colors of an artist. The kitchen with its unique tiling is bright blue. The dining room – bright yellow! It’s a lot of color, but glorious. And his gardens are absolutely breathtaking. If someone created gardens like that in their lifetime it would be a great accomplishment…not to mention being a world famous artist (at least in the latter part of his life). The gardens take up a lot of space and have a rumbling brook running through them which then feeds into his famous lily pond. The Japanese bridge is still there. The entire place feels otherworldly. It’s just so striking that you feel that it couldn’t possibly be anywhere mortal. The gardens have a life of their own – and they’re certainly timeless in their beauty.
The house we stayed in was four stories and absolutely stunning. It was very tastefully decorated in French country. My room was very blue with lots of prints and I loved it. There was internet there too which was great! My bed was tres petit but that’s okay – I didn’t roll out once but I think I came close!
Giverny is very interesting in the fact that Monet lived there and has since made it a tourist and artist destination. If it weren’t for Monet, Giverny would be a small French town an hour outside of Paris…and not many people would know it exists. It truly has one main road, and you can ride a bike from one side of town to the next in under 10 minutes. Monet’s house and gardens combined with Le Musée des Impressionismes keep this town alive. It’s very quaint and a great place for painting for a lifetime or visiting for a day. The museum doesn’t have a permanent collection but instead has expositions of specific artists. While we were there Joan Mitchell’s paintings were on display. She’s a modern artist and while I didn’t care for her works a great deal – I still appreciate them for their artistic values, their sheer size (they’re HUGE!), and the emotion with which you can feel she feels.
Giverny was an experience I could never repeat. I had infinite fun with my Marchutz family and the learning attained during those few days of intense painting and studying could never be replaced. It was truly an amazing experience.
Now I’m in Paris with Mom - AWESOME! But you’ll have to tune in later to read all about our adventures!
Pictures to come when I'm not on limited internet access in the Paris hotel :)! Promise.
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