Preservation and Legacy

After Monet's death in 1926, the garden fell into neglect. Michel Monet, who inherited the property, had little interest in maintaining it. By the 1970s, the garden was overgrown, the pond choked with weeds, the house deteriorating. The restoration, begun in 1977 under the direction of the Versailles Academy and curator Gerald van der Kemp, required extensive research to recreate Monet's vision.

Today's Giverny, visited by hundreds of thousands annually, is both authentic recreation and living artwork. The gardeners follow Monet's planting schemes, documented through paintings, photographs, and garden records. Yet the garden continues to evolve, as any living system must. Each spring brings new growth, each season its own character, continuing the dialogue between art and nature that Monet began.