Giverny, France: Monet's Living Masterpiece

If you've ever felt the urge to jump into a painting, be sure to visit Impressionist painter Claude Monet's stunning gardens in Giverny, near Paris, France. Between April 1 and Oct. 31 each year, around 500,000 people pass through the gates to admire his "living masterpiece."

Monet moved to Giverny in 1883 with his second wife, Alice, and their combined eight children. He designed and color-coordinated the garden with precision, intermingling rare plants with the simplest, and then letting them grow freely for a natural effect. Carefully attuned to the seasons, as one flowering plant finishes, another emerges, creating a seamless merging and blending.

"Aside from painting and gardening," he once remarked, "I'm good for nothing."

By mid-spring the gardens will be full of visitors, shuffling single file through a perfumed mosaic of flowers in the Clos Normand, or cottage garden, where cheerful pansies, mauve and yellow irises, azaleas, tulips, rhododendrons, and more cavort all around and overhead. Glancing toward the famous pink and green house, you'll easily imagine a bushy-bearded, sun-hatted Claude Monet emerging with his easel and brushes, ready for another day's work.

Inside the house hang reproductions of Monet's works and his collections of blue and white china and Japanese prints. Upstairs, wide French windows in his bedroom open to a sweeping view of the garden.

You especially won't want to miss his famous water garden. Inspired by scenes from his Japanese prints, Monet designed this section with an oriental theme. In spring, mauve wisteria drapes a green-painted Japanese bridge. With weeping willows, bamboo, water lilies, and assorted flowering bushes, it's mirrored to stunning effect in the pond, with Monet's little boat moored nearby. This is where, as Monet's eyesight deteriorated, his water lily paintings turned into abstractions, becoming the fore-runners of modern abstract art.

Giverny is an easy day trip from Gare St Lazare, Paris, with bus connections at Vernon. Parking is available at the gardens. Stroll down Rue Claude Monet to find cafes, ateliers, and the American Art Museum, which also offers painting lessons. Accommodation is available in Vernon.

For more details, visit www.giverny.org.