Books: Giverny: A New Take

There are lots of books about Monet's garden at Giverny, which inspired so many of his artworks, but this new slipcased volume includes much more than photos and descriptions of the garden.

In A Day with Claude Monet in Giverny (Flammarion, 2017-- distributed by Rizzoli International), art historian and writer Adrien Goetz takes you inside the house and the artist's studio at Giverny, and of course gives you a grand tour of the gardens.

In the foreword to the book, the director of the Fondation Claude Monet, Hugues Gall, says "there is more to Giverny than the legacy of Monet."  He explains that the garden represents "an image of a changeless France ... with reflections and echoes of the past."

There's a chapter on the village itself, it's history, churches, hotels, and scenes that inspired some of Mone't paintings. You'll read about Monet's family, impressionism, and the property itself, both inside and outside the residence.  There are scores of photos of Monet, the gardens, his paintings, and objects that surrounded him in everyday life.

It's a different look at the place that was his home for the last 40 years of his life, and a book you'll treasure forever.