Claude Monet's house and gardensRestoration and layout of the domain

More than forty years after its opening to the public, the buildings of the estate bear the marks of visitor traffic and the wear of time. A number of elements today show signs of degradation that justify significant restorations.

These restorations provide an opportunity to rethink visitor flow to accommodate a much higher attendance than the objectives of the 1970s. They also allow for questioning the evolution of the estate over time. The successive maintenance since Monet's death, the degradation of poorly documented states, and restorations conducted with a perspective on heritage different from that which we hold today are all factors that alter the condition of the house and gardens from the painters time. Beyond the mission of preserving an important cultural heritage, contemporary interventions aim to restore an original state and adapt the site to contemporary challenges.

A symbol of the painter's gardens, the Japanese-style bridge lies at the heart of the Water Garden and its famous water lilies. Built in 1893 during the initial landscaping of the Water Garden, the bridge was only crowned with its two wisteria vines later, in 1904.

Very vulnerable to the elements, the Garden was in a state of considerable diecay when the Academy became owner of the site. The bridge was no exception, supported in its center by wooden props. The wisteria vines, however, remained sound, and the bridge was restored in 1977 by Van der Kemp.

Today, the strenght of the wisteria is working against the bridge. The bridge is leaning, bent under the weight of the plant. Its restoration requires the complete removal of the existing metallic frame and the wooden railings, which have been damaged by humidity and time.

To ensure its long-term stability, the new frame is reinforced and rests directly on the bridge structure, nestled between the wisteria vines as if they had grown around it. The wooden decking is leveled, and the bridge is repainted in the lost original green color, respawned after historical and photographic research.

The ever-increasing number of visitors to the gardens sets new challenges in visitor flow managment, accessibility, and safety. The first underground tunnel, built during the Van der Kemp era to connect the two gardens without crossing the Chemin du Roy road, has reached its limits and does not meet contemporary accessibility standards.
It is therefore necessary to build a second underground passage, equipped with elevators, to improve traffic flow on the site while preserving its aesthetic coherence and atmosphere. To achieve this, the entrances to the new passage are integrated into previously inaccessible parts of the grounds: in the garden of the house southeast of the Clos Normand, where some of the site's gardeners once lived, and in a staff area of ​​the Water Garden. This reappropriation of a previously inaccessible part of the garden to the public allows the restoration of paths traced by Monet and erased during the restoration of the 1970s. This work, echoing the original state, accompanied by a set of ramps and an approach based on the discretion of the intervention, allows the feeling of walking in the gardens to be preserved and minimizes the visual impact of the project.

Claude Monet's house is at the heart of a broader inquiry : the site’s colors. Indeed, the analysis of the historical context, graphic documents, descriptions and accounts from different periods, as well as the expert examination of the coatings and paintworks, reveals an alteration of the colors of Giverny.

The pink house with dark green shutters we know today is actually a very recent sight. During the painter's time, the contrast was reversed between a deeper, earthier red and a lighter green, almost blue, the Vert de Paris (Paris Green), very popular at the end of the 19th century. The original studio, built in the late 1890s, adopted the same vocabulary as the house, and the same alterations.

All the cement coating is thus to be removed and replaced with lime coating incorporating crushed brick. The moldings and projecting elements are colored solely by the sand in the coating. The woodwork and metalwork are repainted in a shade reproducing Vert de Paris. Several factors are taken into account in this project, such as the constraints related to coating work during winter and the presence of lead-contaminated elements on the buildings.

The house's terrace, rebuilt in concrete during Van der Kemp's construction projects, is to be removed and replaced with a new terrace, more faithful to the one Monet knew. This new terrace features wooden decking and a wooden structure, as well as the same railing design as the original terrace.

The Chemin Roy, which runs alongside the gardens and separates the Clos Normand from the Water Garden, was a railway line in Monet's time. Dismantled in the 1960s, it subsequently became a busy departmental road. Located just a few meters from the Water Lily pond, the road and the heavy trucks that pass over it disturb the tranquility of the Water Garden and its visitors. The increased traffic raises the question of how to protect the garden from the road, both in terms of noise and visual impact.
The creation of a mixed fence, alternating lightweight, vegetated acoustic panels with masonry walls, allows for a combination of discretion and aesthetic and historical coherence. Since the site is inherently marshy with unstable soils, the lightweight, discreet acoustic panels disappear behind the vegetation, requiring only light foundations. The masonry walls, supported by micropile footings, echo the millstone style with tile roofing characteristic of the village.

When Monet moved into the house he rented from 1883 to 1893, his neighbor to the north was a farmhouse belonging to the same owner. The farmhouse, which now houses restoration and accommodation programs, is wraps around a badly deteriorated paved courtyard. The repaving project provides an opportunity to rethink the entire courtyard, parking management, and the use of the currently underutilized outdoor space.