Claude Monet, Villa Roxelana and Les Jardins d’Etretat

  Avenue Damilaville, 76790 Étretat, France

Landscape Architects: IL NATURE

Photography © Matteo Carrasale, Richard Bloom

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Landscape architecture firm IL NATURE has revived the historic garden of Les Jardins d’Etretat in France that is inspired by Claude Monet’s atmospheric paintings.

IL NATURE:

The garden was originally created for the famous French actress Madame Thébault, with the first tree planted in 1903. Monet had determined the general mood of the garden, which has been carefully preserved to this day. The main terrace of Les Jardins d’Étretat sits on the renowned cliff d’Amont, where the artist used to spend many hours on his canvases – a series of paintings and sketches known as ‘Les Falaises d’Étretat’.

In 2015 IL NATURE recreated the historical landscape. Les Jardins d’Étretat expanded their borders, hosted new objets d’art and were given new life. The value of this project lies in the unification of historical elements of the Villa Roxelana garden and modern ideas – the result is a fully-fledged architectural object ripe with neo-futuristic vision.

Les Jardins d’Étretat is an experimental artistic laboratory which primarily seeks to identify new plant care technology and new forms of trimmed compositions for spatial planning. Large-scale trimmed plants provide the material for the garden’s neo-futuristic compositions and images: the eternal organism of the ocean with its own dynamic, spirals and whirlpools; troubled waves; and the cliffs and arches of Normandy’s alabaster coast.

The garden opened its grounds for visitors in 2016 and has been internationally recognised since. Les Jardins d’Etretat is a recognised UNESCO heritage site.  In 2019, the gardens were awarded the European Garden Award for the 'Best development of a historic park or garden’, received Green Guide Michelin star, and was labelled as ‘Remarkable Garden’ as well as listed as one of the ‘Greatest Gardens of the World’. These recognitions enabled Les Jardins d'Etretat to serve as exemplary model for modern landscape architecture and cultural enhancement.