Come and visit the Musée des Impressionnismes in the famous Village des Peintres, an artistic, flower-filled setting in the heart of Giverny! Located on a historic site just 2 steps from Claude Monet’s famous house and gardens, this museum traces the history of Impressionism and its aftermath. Claude Monet, Mary Cassatt, Édouard Manet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir are all exhibited here.
Then stroll through the idyllic garden of the contemporary building that has inspired so many artists.
In this article, we present our experience in images to help you prepare for your visit.
This review is completely independent, we visited the area anonymously and paid our bills in full.
Why visit the Musée des Impressionnismes in Giverny?
Is the Musée des Impressionnismes in Giverny worth it? Our review
Completely! The Musée des Impressionnismes is one of the places not to be missed in the Village des Peintres. In fact, we’ve listed it among our ideas for things to do in Giverny. It’s well worth a visit:
- Its garden: idyllic and contemporary, the museum’s garden is just 2 steps from Claude Monet’s verdant home.
- Its ideal location: on the village’s main avenue, the museum is just a few minutes from Giverny’s tourist attractions.
- Original museography: the museum hosts exhibitions with a different angle on Impressionism and its aftermath.
Why is the Musée des Impressionnismes in Giverny famous?
Dedicated to Impressionist and contemporary art, this museum offers thematic or monographic highlights relating to Impressionism and its variants. Since its creation in 2009, it has been considered a reference art venue dedicated to this movement and its influence on modern and contemporary art. Many of Giverny’s organized excursions include a passage in their program.
Our favorite moments
You can read more about our experience in this article, but we couldn’t resist sharing our favorite moments with you right now:
- the enchanting flower beds of the museum garden,
- sculptures by Edgar Degas or Pierre-Auguste Renoir,
- the body of prints by painter Mary Cassatt.
VISIT Giverny
Our favorite tours and visits:
- From Paris: Small-group guided tour
- From Paris: Private tour
- From Paris: Tour by bus, then by bike
- On site: Guided tour of the gardens
Our articles:
Practical tips and map: Musée des Impressionnismes, Giverny, France
Where is the museum?
The museum is located at 99 rue Claude Monet, Giverny (27620), Normandy.
- Driving time from Paris: 1h20min.
- Driving time from Caen: 2h.
- Driving time from Rouen: 1 hour.
- Driving time from Évreux: 45min.
- Driving time from Ouistreham: 2h.
These times are approximate and depend on traffic.
OUR ADVICE FOR RENTING A CAR IN Normandy
- Compare prices on our preferred platform: DiscoverCars – one of the best rated sites.
- Choose a car that is comfortable enough (distances can be long) but compact (some parking lots and villages are narrow).
- Think of thecomplete insurance (some roads are tortuous and narrow).
- There is a lot of demand, book it early.
How to get there
To get to Giverny easily and peacefully:
- Organized tours from Paris: this is the easiest option, just sit back and admire the road on an organized tour, and let it wash over you! You can find our favorite excursions to Giverny from Paris here.
- By car: Giverny can be reached from the A13 freeway. The municipality has installed several parking lots to facilitate access to the village. Discover all our tips for renting a car before going to Giverny fromOrly, Roissy-CDG or Beauvais airports.
- By train: the TER Normandie regional train line serves Vernon-Giverny, with regular daily services from Paris, Évreux and Rouen. Vernon SNCF train station is a 30-minute shuttle ride from Giverny. Board one of the 2 shuttle buses that will take you to the village of Giverny, the bus or the Petit train touristique de Vernon (same duration, approx. 30min).
See available timetables and book your train and coach tickets now.
Parking
The municipality of Giverny has installed several parking lots to facilitate access to the village as soon as you arrive. You can then stroll around Giverny on foot. Bicycle parking is also available in the parking lot.
Schedules and prices
Open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. from April 1 to November 5, then with some variations in dates until early January, see details here.
Rates:
- exhibition only: €10 (reduced €7) per person,
- combined ticket for museum + C.Monet’s House and Garden: €21 per person,
- free for under-18s.
We advise you to take the informative audioguide for €4 (available in English and French).
For an even easier visit, you can also opt for an organized tour from Paris, including access to the museum. Discover all the options here!
Best time to visit the museum
With almost 630,000 visitors expected in 2022, according to the Claude Monet Foundation, Giverny is a popular destination for tourists. This can be particularly busy during the peak season from June to September. To avoid queues, we recommend weekday mornings or afternoons in spring, late summer and autumn.
VISIT Giverny
Our favorite tours and visits:
- From Paris: Small-group guided tour
- From Paris: Private tour
- From Paris: Tour by bus, then by bike
- On site: Guided tour of the gardens
Our articles:
How long to visit and main difficulties
Allow around 1 hour to contemplate the museum’s collection. There are also temporary exhibitions and the gardens are well worth a visit!
The museum meets PRM accessibility criteria:
- if you would like to reserve a wheelchair, more information here,
- if you wish to reserve a stroller as baby carriers are not accepted, more information here.
A changing table is available in the toilets for you to change your little ones.
Finally, please note that pets are not allowed inside the museum and its gardens.
The Musée des Impressionnismes with children
The museum is child-friendly, with games and activities to stimulate children’s creativity and help them discover Impressionism:
- booklets to download directly from the official website here,
- an interactive story accessible here, the tale of Iris, a little girl who explains the museum’s trades and the works in the collection,
- workshops for 5-12 year-olds at the Impressionnautes Club here.
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La Brasserie des Artistes, the museum’s restaurant
On site, you can enjoy French cuisine at the Brasserie des Artistes, overlooking the museum garden. If you prefer to eat out, check out our best places to eat in Giverny.
WHERE TO STAY IN Giverny
Option 1: in the village
Giverny, famous for its gardens and the Village des Peintres, is a magical place… We recommend..:
- Pluie de Roses establishment in a 6000 m2 park with veranda – see prices, photos and availability.
- Hotel La Musardière, charming 3-star establishment in the heart of Giverny – see prices, photos and availability.
- B&B Le Clos Fleuri with cosy rooms, shared lounge and terrace – see details, availability and booking.
- Madame Baudy’s 19th-century house, where painters have stayed – see details, availability and bookings.
Option 2: around Giverny
The medieval town of Vernon is just a 10-minute drive from Giverny. We recommend..:
- Hotel Normandy traditional 19th-century establishment – see prices, photos and availability.
- Maison Anne face to park B&B with garden view – see prices, photos and availability.
From the American Art Museum to the Musée des Impressionnismes
30 years ago, the Museum of American Art was founded in place of the current Musée des Impressionnismes in Giverny. Did you know that from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of World War II, the Village des Peintres was the cradle of American Impressionism? After the Civil War, many came to discover new trends in European painting, notably at the Louvre. Theformer Hôtel Baudy in Giverny will be the haunt of these great names, where a 19th-century art studio is still preserved.
Take American painter and printmaker Mary Cassatt, several of whose works we saw during our visit to the museum. She became close to French Impressionist artists such as Edgar Degas, who made her his model. See below the painting Auprès de la mare(By the pond), painted around 1898. Can you feel the calm and relaxation of this moment captured by the artist?
Do you know about prints? These are artistic images printed on paper using a relief or intaglio matrix. Several Impressionists took an interest in this Japanese art, notably Mary Cassatt, who used this style in some of her paintings. In fact, we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a series of Mary Cassatt prints on our tour, focusing on the mother-child relationship.
Dedicated to the artistic movement of which Claude Monet was one of the masters, the Musée des Impressionnismes takes the place of the Musée d’Art Américain in Giverny. This place of art celebrates the alliance between modernity, the outdoors and the vivid colors so characteristic of Impressionism. It’s no surprise that the Impressionist route was formed in Normandy. Many artists, both French and international, have been inspired by the region’s magical landscapes. Eugène Boudin’s Conversation sur la Plage de Trouville, a precursor of the movement, is a telling example. We caught a glimpse of it that day, but it is now on permanent display at the Musée Eugène-Boudin in Honfleur.
Did you know that Eugène Boudin played a crucial role in Claude Monet’s career? The story goes that he advised him to start painting en plein air, and the painter-gardener took a liking to it! Claude Monet often said, “I don’t need a studio, my studio is the open air”.
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Impressionism and its aftermath
At the Musée des Impressionnismes in Giverny, you’ll be transported into the world of great French and American artists such as Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Mary Cassatt and Henri Martin. We really enjoyed grasping the revolutionary nature of this new artistic approach at the end of the 19th century, highlighted here. This movement influenced the styles that followed it, or broke with them. But Impressionism was also a source of inspiration for musical and poetic artists such as Paul Verlaine and Charles Baudelaire.
In the late 1850s, the great names of French Impressionism met. Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne, Camille Pissarro, Édouard Manet… We had the pleasure of marvelling at their remarkable work at the Musée des Impressionnismes in Giverny. Here, Camille Pissarro brilliantly captures the fleeting impression of this everyday moment. He transforms this moment into a work of art, with the woman hanging out the washing outside.
On this highly educational tour, all the works spoke to us, but some were particularly appealing, like this one, L’Écolière by Edgar Degas. Can you make out the fine details of this plaster statuette?
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Contemporary architecture in the heart of a historic site
After visiting the interior of the museum, with its exceptional works of art, take a look at the building’s contemporary architecture. This project represented a real challenge for architect Philippe Robert: to succeed in building a modern museum while preserving the charm and authenticity of this historic site.
We saw how he managed to blend this large building into its surroundings, while still allowing the beauty of the exterior to shine through. In this natural setting, you’ll be surprised by the discreet character of the museum’s walls and the large bay windows that illuminate the interior.
VISIT Giverny
Our favorite tours and visits:
- From Paris: Small-group guided tour
- From Paris: Private tour
- From Paris: Tour by bus, then by bike
- On site: Guided tour of the gardens
Our articles:
An enchanting garden, a source of creative inspiration
The Musée des Impressionnismes garden is bursting with color and plant species, with nearly 22,000 flowers planted. Can you recognize them? For example, we admired shield grass and its twigs, or Lysimachia nummularia. Brightly lit, they stretch across the museum’s flowerbeds.
In the garden surrounding this place of art and history, you can’t miss the magnificent field of poppies that inspired Claude Monet to paint Champs de coquelicots à Giverny at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rouen. Isn’t it soothing to contemplate?
Now we understand why the artist made his garden, just a stone’s throw from the museum, his open-air studio!
Designed in the early 1990s, the garden at the Musée des Impressionnismes differs from that of Claude Monet. Thousands of plant species flourish here, but unlike the Clos Normand or the Jardin d’Eau, this garden has been designed in an original French style.
Its flower meadow, orchard, colorful pathways and white water garden set it apart from the rest. It was designed by architect Philippe Robert and American landscape architect Mark Rudkin, who also created the gardens for the Franco-American Museum at Château de Blérancourt. This little paradise in the heart of Giverny guarantees a timeless country walk!
You’ll see that contemporary art also invites itself into the museum garden, as here with the Bois des Nymphes by Eva Jospin (2021).
You only have one day at Giverny? Check out our 3 themed itineraries here! Ready for your visit?
PLAN YOUR TRIP TO Normandy
Inspiration destinations
- Deciding where to go in Normandy – the best destinations
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- 16 seaside hotels in Normandy
- The most beautiful charming hotels in Normandy
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Practice
- Where to stay in Normandy – best places and hotels
- See our tips for renting a car at CDG airport, Orly airport, Beauvais airport, Caen, Rouen, Bayeux…
Frequently asked questions
Where to picnic near Giverny?
On the main driveway in Giverny, you can sit in the park on the greenery near the Église Sainte-Radegonde. There are no picnic tables, but lunch on the grass is always pleasant. Claude Monet wouldn’t have said otherwise, would he?
Alternatively, a 10-minute drive from Giverny, a large picnic area has been set up in Vernon on the banks of the Seine, behind the stadium, near the cycle path. Enjoy your picnic in peace and quiet, surrounded by nature. Behind the stadium, a parking area is available.
OUR ADVICE FOR RENTING A CAR IN Normandy
- Compare prices on our preferred platform: DiscoverCars – one of the best rated sites.
- Choose a car that is comfortable enough (distances can be long) but compact (some parking lots and villages are narrow).
- Think of thecomplete insurance (some roads are tortuous and narrow).
- There is a lot of demand, book it early.
When do the water lilies bloom at Giverny?
In Giverny, the famous water lilies that inspired Claude Monet bloom from May to September. You can admire the Bassin aux Nymphéas in the Jardins du peintre jardinier. Each water lily flower blooms for an average of 4 to 5 days. The flowers open in the morning and close again in the evening, their opening and closing depending on light and heat.
Want to discover the magic of Giverny? Don’t wait any longer and discover all our excursions here!
