Daniel J. Terra (1911-1996) is the inventor of a revolutionary printing technique thanks to which he made a fortune in the industrial field. His interest in art led him to acquire works of art as early as 1937 and, little by little, he built up a collection of American art which brings together today almost a thousand works going from the colonial period to the middle of the 20th century. His passion for the American cultural heritage materialized in the creation of a foundation, the Terra Foundation for the Arts, and of its two affiliated museums, the Terra Museum of American Art in Chicago and the Musée d'Art Américain in Giverny.

Terra first bought in Giverny the property situated next to Claude Monet's house, where several American painters lived at the turn of the last century. At first he planned to exhibit paintings made by American impressionists. However, the space in the house was lacking and he chose to have a new museum built, whose realization he entrusted to the firm of architects Reichen and Robert. In an attempt to make the building blend with the surrounding landscape which Claude Monet (1840-1926) was so fond of, Philippe Robert set it on the hillside, on the natural slope of the land, revealing only part of its Norman limestone walls crowned by planted terraces.

When Claude Monet moved to Giverny in 1883, many American and European artists settled down in the village until World War II and formed an important colony of impressionist painters. This colony of artists developed itself around painters like Theodore Robinson, Lilla Cabot Perry, Frederick MacMonnies, Frederick Carl Frieseke.

Claude Monet, leader of the Impressionists, lived in the small village of Giverny, near Vernon, from 1883 until his death in 1926.

The house and gardens have been restored and maintained as they were during his lifetime with the house decorated in its original color schemes. Monet’s home, a pink and green cottage whose entrance is framed by two large yew trees, leads into the visitor’s center, which was his studio. The yellow dining room and the blue country kitchen, with its tiled walls, have an charming intimacy where you can imagine him getting together for large family meals or entertaining his fellow artists.. The house contains reproductions of his works and his collection of 18th-19th century Japanese prints. The huge studio where he painted the famous ‘Water Lilies’ is not far from the house and now houses the Claude Monet Foundation’s shop.

He loved flowers and the magnificent gardens slope gently down to the River Epte. The gardens also comprise the walled garden, planted according to Monet’s own design, and the Water Garden, shaded by weeping willows, with its famous Japanese Bridge, its wisterias, azaleas and its pond with water-lilies

Monet's garden is incredibly beautiful from April to October. Flower varieties bloom one after another so that the garden changes gradually with the seasons while keeping its colors and brightness. The peak period is May-June. In summer you can enjoy the beauty of all the annual flowers and of the famous Nympheas (Water-lilies). In September and October the gardens is a feast of giant flowers of splendid colors.

The house and garden which inspired him were left to the Academie des Beaux Arts in 1966 by his son. It is only 75 kms. Paris and is closed on Mondays.

Within a few hundred yards of the house is the American Museum of Art founded by Daniel and Judith Terra to commemorate the inter-relationship of French and American Art, and which is well worth a visit.

  Among the art on show is Samuel FB More’s 'Gallery of the Louvre', paintings of views of Giverny by American artists and works of art from the period 1840-1920 executed by American artists of their impressions of other parts of France, in particular of Brittany and Paris. Artists such as Mary Cassatt, Henry O’Tanner and John Singer Sargent are on show.

April - Tulips, pansies, forget-me-nots, narcissi, aubrietas, cherry and crab-apple blossom, fritillaries, daffodils, etc.

May - Irises, peonies, rhododendrons, geraniums, wisterias, azaleas, wallflowers, daisies, delphiniums, etc.

June - Roses, poppies, clematis, Tamaris, etc.

July - Roses, nasturtiums, ageratums, zinnias, nicotianas, busy lizzies, verbenas, dahlias,
Rudbeckias, salvias, primulinus gladiolus, cleomes, cosmos, sunflowers, helianthus,
Hollyhocks.. Beginning of water lilies.

August - Dahlias, cosmos, hibiscus, etc (see July). End of waterlilies.

September - Nasturtiums carpet the Grande Allee. Asters, dahlias, cosmos, rudbeckias

October - Dahlias. All the annual flowers until frost.

Monet's Argenteuil bridge * Renoir's Bougival * Chatou * Moret-sur-Loing * Montparnasse * Chailly-en-Biere

You may not need a personal bilingual guide to find the more famous museums and galleries in Paris that exhibit fabulous collections of Impressionist art; but you will be delighted to discover the many smaller museums that are home to wonderful Impressionist works.

Moreover, if Impressionism is a passion, you may be fascinated to know that many of the subjects of famous Impressionist works survive, virtually unchanged, to this day; so it is possible to compare what the artist painted with the original.

Let us drive you to Monet's Argenteuil bridge, Vetheuil church, and his Gare St. Lazare. Visit Renoir's Bougival and Chatou, Sisley's Port Marly, Moret-sur-Loing, Louveciennes, and Courances, Pissarro's Voisins and Pontoise, Seurat's bridges at Courbevoie and Asnieres or Van Gogh's church at Auvers-sur-Oise.

Amazingly enough, some of the old haunts of the Impressionists can still be visited: the Closerie de Lilas in Montparnasse (where Bazille and Renoir quaffed beer and exchanged ideas with Fantin-Latour), La Grenouillere bathing spot on Croissy Island (which Kenneth Clark described as 'the birthplace of Impressionism,' where Monet and Renoir painted side by side), and the White Horse Inn at Chailly-en-Biere (where Sisley, Monet and Renoir lodged on the edge of the Fontainebleau forest and set up easels in the open air).