The garden is simple in its form and choice of plants, but is characterised by its riotous and imaginative use of colour. It pours out from the doorway of the artist's house in colourful flowering rivulets that flow and swirl into the Impressionist scenes that inspired his paintings.

Monet, leader of the Impressionist School, lived at Giverny from 1883 to 1926. The house, with its pink roughcast façade, green-blue shutters and the archways of roses that surround it, is extremely charming. The garden begins with a vibrant spring show and becomes more and more brilliant throughout the summer, before cooling off with a subtle and wistful autumnal finale.

It is divided into two parts. The rectangular Clos Normand lies in front of the house, with archways of climbing plants wrapped around superbly coloured shrubs. The Water Garden lies further away, and provided inspiration for some of Monet's greatest work. He came here often during his life, his imagination stimulated by the interplay of light and shadow and the dreamy, contemplative quality of this enchanting Japanese garden. It was here that he painted his Water Lilies series, exquisite canvases which seem to convey the essence of Impressionism and herald the abstract movement to come. The scene remains untouched by time and July is the best time to see the water lilies in their full glory.