The Prestel publishing house has published the “Golden Book of Monet: The Monet Cookbook: Recipes from Giverny) – a collection with 60 original dishes of the Impressionist Claude Monet and reproductions of his paintings. Each chapter of the book contains recipes for dishes served at different times in the famous yellow dining room of Monet and in the garden of his house in Zhoverny. The publishing house emphasizes that the artist did not prepare himself, but his diary entries with descriptions of a meal, guests and recipes of dishes were preserved. From simple galetus and casserole to exquisite souffle, seafood and cakes.
I want to France
“Lady in the garden”, 1866
The village, located 80 kilometers from at the merger of the Seine and Ept, would forever remain a picturesque, but unremarkable place if Claude Monet had not looked out on the train window on time. It was April 1883, the gardens bloomed. And, they say, the artist was so struck by the beauty of this place that he decided to settle here. Monet first rents, and in 1890 he buys a two -story brick house with a garden of 1 hectare in Zhiverni. The house expands, increases the size of the windows, the facade paints in pink, and the shutters are green; Starts to arrange a magnificent flowering garden. And three years later he decides to purchase an additional site. Turning to the local prefecture for the appropriate permission, Monet writes that this is “for the sake of the holiday for the eyes and motives for painting”. Having received permission, the artist arranges a pond here with water lilies grown from seeds brought from Japan – Mona nourishes a great love for Japanese art.
The mansion in which Claude Monet in Zhiverni lived
By this time, Monet is 43 years old. He is a recognized master of painting, his paintings are well sold, he is quite rich and surrounded by a family, friends, colleagues. There were Renoir, Pissarro, Cezann, Matisse. He will live happily in Zhiverni until the end of his days – another 43 years, that is, half of his life. And almost everything that he will write during this time will be inspired by the beauty of these places – a garden and a pond with water lilies in Zhiverni will become the main source of inspiration and the main object of creativity.
After the death of the artist, the estate turned into the ownership of the Academy of Fine Arts, carefully supporting the appearance of the house and the garden in the form in which the owner left them, turning this place into the house of the great impressionist (Musée Claude Monet). It is worth making a reservation, inside you will not meet Monet’s works – it is better to go to the Paris Museums of Orsa and Marmottan for paintings; The second has the most extensive collection of Claude Monet’s works in the world. But the house in Zhiverni is filled with household details of the life of the master, the hall is turned into the Water Lily studio, formed by the artist’s work reproductions; Here the rooms are flooded with light, and the view from the windows decorates flowering wisteria, lavender and rhododendrons.
One of the rooms in the mansion of Claude Monet
Following Monet, other artists began to come to Zhiverni. Gradually, a whole art colony from the Germans, Chekhov, and British formed here. But most of all there were Americans. The only hotel in the village then received the unspoken name “House of American Artists.” This was the first hotel in the world designed for painting – two studios with huge windows overlooking north were equipped under the roof. Then this hotel belonged to Madame Angelina Body. The poor guests often paid with her their sketches and paintings – these paintings formed the basis of the collection of the local museum of impressionists (Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny). The museum is located on the main street of Zhiverni, now bearing the name of Claude Monet. By the way,
The Hotel Baudy Hotel is still working. He accepts guests in “Bed & Breakfast”.
If you go further along Claude Monet, you can reach the St. Radegond Church, in the parish cemetery of which the great artist and members of his family are buried.
The Monet Garden, his house-museum and the Impressionism Museum are open to visitors. You can get here from Paris by train coming from the Saint-Lazar station to Vernon Station (45 minutes on the road). From the station to Zhverni (distance of 7 kilometers) there is a bus waiting for passengers within 15 minutes after the arrival of the train.
