Monet’s Garden Dazzles in One Thousand Colours in Japan

Although Claude Monet’s original garden is located in Giverny in France, a faithful replica can be found, surprisingly, in the Japanese village of Kitagawa. Created to revitalise the local economy of the Shikoku region, located off the tourist track, the Monet’s Garden Marmottan brings together Japanese spirit and the essence of French culture.

An unconditional lover of nature, impressionist painter Claude Monet dedicated his life to reproducing the beauty of flowers on canvas, which is transposed into Monet’s Garden Marmottan in Kitagawa. Spread across over 30 hectares, the gardens are made up of no less than 55,000 varieties of trees, plants and flowers, bearing an uncanny resemblance to the artist’s most magnificent paintings. Since the garden opened in 2000, many people have rushed to visit, wanting to experience the spirit of Giverny in the heart of Japan.

This transposition of Monet’s garden to Japan is, above all, an astounding homage to the painter. Monet was fascinated by Japan and owned a large collection of prints, and had even rebuilt a sumptuous water garden in Giverny.

The one in Kitagawa consecrates the painter’s dream to see blue waterlilies, which are in flower from July to October, bloom on his pond in Giverny. A Japanese bridge, similar to the one found in Giverny, straddles the pond, with Japanese wisteria, bamboo and waterlilies. There is a huge collection of seasonal flowers, which form a palette of colours identical to those used by the French painter, moving between red, yellow and pink to evoke tulips, poppies and orchids. The final space, the Light Garden, pays tribute to Monet’s travels, in the company of Renoir, on the Mediterranean coast, with olive trees and palm trees.

The Japanese are passionate about impressionist art, and are connoisseurs of Monet’s work. The garden is a beautiful tribute to this French painter inspired by Japan, who would have certainly taken great pleasure in wandering through the garden in Kitagawa.