Monet – his life and works at Giverny

Following on from a visit to Monet’s house and gardens at Giverny in France, this two week course take a visual tour through art works and through photographs of his time at his beloved home. 

In the last part of his life, Monet had experienced a series of disappointments and was grieving the loss of his wife. Coupled with cataracts and finding it difficult to see to paint, he put down his paint brushes and decided he would never paint again. It was only through the encouragement of his close friend, the President Georges Clémenceau, that he was inspired to paint again. The result of this was the monumental paintings of the water lilies, some of which can be seen today in the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris.

This course will explore Monet’s extraordinarily beautiful works of art, the fascinating journey through his life at Giverny, an overview of his young life as a budding artist, the neglect of the house and garden after his death and the eventual revival of them, bringing the gardens, which Monet called his greatest masterpiece, back to life.