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By George Bria
Associated Press
Thursday, June 15, 2000; Page H08

They keep coming to Giverny, France, mostly American and Japanese gardeners, painters and just plain tourists, to dwell for an hour or two in Monet's garden.

Nearly 75 years after his death, Claude Monet draws multitudes to the place he immortalized in his impressionist masterpieces.

The flower garden, you immediately realize, is itself a work of art. But to visualize what it was in the artist's time you need imagination. You have to try to erase from your sight the swarms of tourists, particularly as they crowd over the enchanting Japanese footbridge Monet created over a lily pond.

Some 400,000 people are estimated to visit Giverny yearly, more than any other site in Normandy.

I joined one of many escorted tours in late April for the 53-mile ride from Paris. It was the best time to see the patterns of daffodils, tulips and other spring flowers Monet designed. The day was mostly sunny and cool and we were spared the showers that are frequent in this season.

Heavy traffic in Paris slowed the ride to Giverny to an hour and a half, giving the English- and Japanese-speaking tour guides plenty of time to lecture on Monet's life, art and, of course, the house and garden. The village, we are told, caught Monet's fancy in 1883 while he was looking out of a train window. He decided to move here with his family.

We also learn that his residing here and his successful art were generally not popular in the neighborhood. Peasants cut down trees and burned haystacks that figured prominently in his paintings.

In fact, we are told more foreigners than French residents visit Giverny today. There have been many foreign donors to restore the site and establish it as a tourist attraction, notable U.S. contributions coming from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund and Laurance Rockefeller. Every year, the Reader's Digest also chooses three American artists to come to Giverny to paint.

Monet once told friends, "My garden is my most beautiful chef-d'oeuvre."

A staff of eight gardeners re-creates the gardens as Monet designed and worked them with the help of five gardeners.

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