Giverny, France Workshop in Monet's Paradise

New dates: now booking for 17 - 22 July 2017 

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A lifetime experience, right where Monet’s masterpieces were created

This Giverny experience is designed to learn and get inspired by the father of Impressionism Claude Monet. We’ll spend five days in Giverny, north of Paris, where Monet lived for 30 years. Here we’ll be painting in the village and in the gardens along the water lily pond the master had built. These are the real locations where Monet’s masterpieces were created. We are in love with this magical place, coming here for the fifth time. Get your post now, very limited space!

Get all the info now at workshops@francescofontana.com

More about the Monet's story

To prepare for the culture and spirit of Impressionism, you would want to visit two Paris museums: Le Musée Marmottan e l'Orangerie. The first one displaying Impression du Soleil Levant, (Impression of the Rising Sun), from which the term Impressionism was conied. At Musée de l'Orangerie you can admire a selection of giant paintings among the 250 that Monet painted of the lilies and the reflections on the waters of the Giverny pond. I will not guide your visit of Paris but you can ask for tips as I lived there. Get all the info now at workshops@francescofontana.com

Read my interview to Outdoor Painter

Back to Giverny, Workshop in Monet's Paradise

Now Booking for June 2017

Masterpieces were created here

This Giverny experience is designed to learn and get inspired by the father of Impressionism Claude Monet. We’ll spend five days in Giverny, north of Paris, where Monet lived for 30 years. Here we’ll be painting in the village and in the gardens along the water lily pond the master had built. These are the real locations where Monet’s masterpieces were created. We are coming here for the fourth time. You can add extra days to your vacation, prior and after Giverny. 

The Monet’s Paris

To prepare for the culture and spirit of Impressionism, you would want to visit two Paris museums: Le Musée Marmottan e l'Orangerie. The first one displaying Impression du Soleil Levant, (Impression of the Rising Sun), from which the term Impressionism was conied. At Musée de l'Orangerie you can admire a selection of giant paintings among the 250 that Monet painted of the lilies and the reflections on the waters of the Giverny pond.
I will not guide your visit of Paris but you can ask for tips as I lived there. I will connect you with other participants who wish to share the Parisian experience. Welcome in Giverny

Read my interview to Outdoor Painter

Once you arrive the Vernon station, a group taxi can be shared. The same day a visit to the house and gardens of Monet is scheduled. Followed by a ice breaking drink and a good dinner.

Write now to workshops@francescofontana.com

The following mornings the class will be hold in the hotel garden. Then will return to Monet’s the next four afternoons, with a private pass to paint in the property after tourist hours. These sessions have no structured instruction, just some advise and great deal of inspiration from the golden light of the day!

Watercolor Workshop

Watercolor is the official media and beginners are welcome. Oil or acrylic are allowed for outdoor experienced painters only. Instruction is mainly based on demos. Francesco will be available for individual advise. An open feedback will take place on the last day, followed by a farewell dinner. On departure day a bus is available or a taxi can be scheduled to Vernon station for Paris, or directly to the airport.

A detailed day schedule will follow after signing up.

Write now to workshops@francescofontana.com

2016 Upcoming Events

    • Feautured Artist at Lighthouse Plein Air Festival, Jupiter, Florida 9 — 13 March, 2016

    • DVD Release  & Faculty at 5th Plein Air Convention & Expo, Tucson, AZ 15 — 19 April 2016

    • Exhibiting in Fabriano, Italy – International Watercolor Society Festival, April 2015

    • Featured Artist at Door County Plein Air Festival, WI, Fish Creek 24 — 30 July 2016

    • Workshop Instructor at MISA Madeline Island School of Arts, WI, 29 Aug— 2 Sep 2016

    • Extended Article on Watercolor Painting Process on The Artist Magazine, UK Sept 2016

    • Judge and Instructor at Watercolor Society of Oregon Conference, 7 — 14 October 2016

 

See Recent Past Events & More Credits

Giverny. Story of a Master's Garden

Look where I will take you to paint this summer. A great video about Claude Monet garden in Giverny Monet Garden by James Priest

The California Impressionists and Today Plein Air

Meet me in Monterey & Carmel 7 -13 April 2014

It's very exciting for me to be preparing for California to attend the Plein Air Convention & Expo in Monterey. There I will also exhibit three paintings. Then my plan is to honor the beauty of the Carmel peninsula, staying three extra days to workshop in the area and paint in the stunning coastal natural reserve of Point Lobos.

Mary Agnes Yerkes,
California Impressionist Painter, (1886–1989).
"Plein-Air painting at Carmel’’, Carmel Beach, CA, circa 1920s.

For an European like me, with a background in the French Impressionism and the Italian Macchiaioli, it's intriguing to engage with the nature and the southern bright light that inspired the Early California plein air impressionists.

A Bridge Across the Ocean

Ever since the early '900 the connection with Europe was very tight. Painter Guy Rose, studied in Paris and lived in Giverny 1904-1912, becoming friend and pupil of Claude Monet in person. A colony took home in Giverny and the Giverny Group was first recognized in the US with an exhibition at New York's Madison Gallery in 1910.

After a decline lasting three decades due to the rising of modernism and the Great depression, -- a revival of the California plein air impressionism, took up in the 70's. In 1978 curator Nancy Moure released a Dictionary of Art and Artists in Southern California Before 1930 and curated a retrospective exhibition for the Laguna Beach Museum.

Continuing a Glorious History

Now publisher and painter Eric Rhoads is the enthusiast and proud promoter of the 3d Plein Air Convention & Expo. With his Plein Air Magazine and many other activities, he highly contributes to build up an integrated art industry and favor the cohesion of the artists' community.

I'll fly a long way from old Europe to be part of this history and make it a valuable step in my career. Which I want to share with YOU! After the Convention, join me in Carmel to paint out in the week end 11 - 13 April. Just write to my email workshop@francescofontana.com to share a great time together!

Live in painting! Francesco

PS. If you're in this business but ain't a painter, write to my email workshop@francescofontana.com to arrange a meeting between 7 and 13 April to plan new projects across the pond!

Monet Paris & Giverny Painting Holiday

Living The Spirit of Impressionism

Giverny is a tiny village about 75 km north of Paris, in Lower Normandy. Claude Monet, the father of Impressionism, lived in Giverny the last 30 years of his life.

Me painting in the Monet's garden, July 2013

There he built his mansion and designed in person a luscious flower garden and the lily pond. Later the lilies became the subject of a series of large paintings. These paintings – we can now admire at Musee de l'Orangerie in Paris -- become his most famous masterpieces, after Impression du Soleil Levant, which gave birth to the Impressionism and constitutes our legacy as painters.

Next July I'll have again the privilege to paint right along the lily pond in the colourful garden of my muse Monet. Believe me when I say you can feel his spirit and something enormously greater in the air as you paint in the quite late afternoon of Giverny. The sky becomes peach rose thru the trees and you can only hear the frogs splashing in the pond. We feel as witnesses and humble carriers of  his Art. We become aware and grateful for it seems he made all this to share his inspiration with us!

12 -- 19 July, 2014

The Japanese Bridge --
Watercolor 33 x 46 cm (c) Francesco Fontana

I’ll offer this 4 day workshop in Giverny – after a brief tour in Paris. Dry and water media are preferred -- but oil is welcome if you have a basic gear and painting know how outdoor. I pre-booked only 8 rooms at the hotel we stayed last year, just around the corner of Monet’s house. Are you going to miss this chance?

Be part of this memorable experience! Sign up now!. 

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