Ancien Hôtel Baudy

In 1886, the first members of a group of painters, led by Willard Leroy Metcalf, who would go on to form a colony of American artists in Giverny were looking for lodgings in the village. They asked Madame Baudy, who ran a simple grocery with café at the time. She decided to transform her establishment into a hotel-restaurant that became the famed Hôtel Baudy. When they found out that Claude Monet lived just close by, these American painters went to meet him and then spread the news in Paris society. From then on, at the end of each week, a host of artists, fans and the inquisitive flocked to Giverny, many taking board and lodgings in the former grocery-cum-café that earned the nickname of “the Americans’ hotel”.

Its garden becoming the site of one, two, even three artist’s studios, the hotel grew into a gathering place and creative hub for the artistic community. Its walls were gradually covered with works. Bustling and friendly, the place witnessed lively evenings with the likes of Robinson, Renoir and Cézanne. Over 18 nationalities rubbed shoulders here, not just French artists such as Rodin, Sisley, Pissarro and Monet (the last regularly coming to chat in the garden with the great politician Clemenceau!), but also foreigner ones such as Sargent, Hart, Butler, Beckwith, Dawson-Watson, Young, MacMonnies, Frieseke, Cassatt, Collins and Perry.

Now, the place is a restaurant, but this house so full of Impressionist history still reflects that period with its 1900s décor, its bistrot-style furnishings and its red and white chequered tablecloths. The much-appreciated style of omelette prepared by Madame Baudy still features on the menu!

Out in the garden, one artist’s studio has been left untouched, while the rose garden with its intoxicating scents winds up the slope. These elements still evoke Giverny’s Impressionist atmosphere. The studio was built in 1887, its glass side ensuring unbroken natural light. Claude Monet worked in similar conditions in his studio so close by. The little studio here can be seen in a canvas painted by Robinson, Vue de la colline de Giverny, kept at the Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny.