Before the Water Lilies.
Monet discovers Giverny, 1883-1890
From 27 March
to 5 July 2026
Musée des impressionnismes Giverny
99 rue Claude Monet, 27620 Giverny
To commemorate the centenary of Claude Monet’s death on 5 December 1926, the Musée des impressionnismes Giverny is dedicating an exceptional exhibition to the artist’s early years in Giverny.
It traces the period from his arrival in 1883 to the end of 1890, when he bought his house and began to shape his garden.
During these decisive years, Monet explored and observed his new surroundings: poppies, poplars, meadows, hills, and the Epte and Seine rivers. He immersed himself in a landscape shaped by rain and fog, but also by the play of sunlight and clouds.
By bringing back to the very places where they were created the works through which the master of Impressionism made the village and its surroundings his own, the exhibition invites visitors to enjoy the unique experience of seeing Giverny through Monet’s eyes, both indoors and outdoors.
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Autoportrait coiffé d’un béret, 1886
Oil on canvas, 56 x 46 cm
Private collection
© All rights reserved / Roy fox Fine Art Photography
Press office / musée des impressionnismes Giverny
‘I am in raptures,
Giverny is a splendid country for me.’Letter from Claude Monet to Théodore Duret, 1883
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Bras de Seine à Giverny, 1885
Oil on canvas, 66 × 93 cm
Paris, musée Marmottan Monet, bequest of Michel Monet, 1966, inv. 5175
© musée Marmottan Monet / Studio Christian Baraja SLB
Press office / musée des impressionnismes Giverny
‘Visitors will discover works they are not used to seeing.
While they are often familiar with Monet through images of Saint-Lazare station, cathedrals or poppy fields, they will be able to explore, in addition to familiar motifs (poplars, haystacks), some rather original views of the hillsides, winter scenes, fog, rain and even the Epte river.’
Cyrille Sciama, Exhibition curator
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Les Meules à Giverny, soleil couchant, 1888-1889
Oil on canvas, 65 x 92 cm
Saitama, The Museum of Modern Art, inv. 0-0023
© Saitama, The Museum of Modern Art
Press office / musée des impressionnismes Giverny
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Champs de coquelicots. Environs de Giverny, 1885
Oil on canvas, 65.5 x 81 cm
Paris, Musée d’Orsay, on loan to the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rouen, MNR 639, work recovered at the end of the Second World War, attributed to the Musée du Louvre in 1951, deposited at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rouen in 1954 and then entrusted to the care of the Musée d’Orsay in 1986.
Incomplete history between 1933 and 1945 according to current research.
In the event of spoliation, the work will be returned to its rightful owners.
© GrandPalaisRmn (Musée d’Orsay) / Martine Beck-Coppola / Press Office / Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny
Curators
- Cyrille Sciama, Director General of the Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, Chief Curator of Heritage
- Marie Delbarre, Research Assistant at the Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny
With the support of the Musée Marmottan Monet and the Académie des Beaux-Arts, Paris
