Les Jardins d’Etretat - A Natural Open-air Museum
Les Jardins d’Etretat is a neo-futuristic garden that extends over the cliffs of the Alabaster Coast, one of the wonders of Normandy with a view listed as a World Heritage by UNESCO. The garden is a playground where lush topiary, architecture and contemporary art dialogue in all poetry. The project is the winner of the European Garden Award in the category "Best development of a historic park or garden" and possesses one Michelin star in the Green Guide.
In 1905, inspired by the Claude Monet, Madame Thébault decided to create a garden at the top of the Amont cliff that would reflect the artist’s work with avant-garde elements mixed with a touch of impressionism. The famous and emblematic view opening from the garden on La Manche and the cliffs inspired famous painters such as Claude Monet, Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, Eugène Delacroix, Edouard Manet and Vasily Polenov.
In 2017, Alexandre Grivko, famous landscape architect fascinated by this history, gave Les Jardins d'Étretat their nobility. The goal was to bring together historical and artistic elements of the old garden and contemporary architectural ideas. A unique collection of modern art is displayed in Les Jardins d'Étretat, allowing visitors to contemplate nature and the surrounding world through the prism of art.
Within just two years, Alexandre Grivko managed to create a garden that appears at least half a century old. To achieve this goal, the architect drew from the methodology of André Le Nôtre, the historically acclaimed French landscape and gardening artist, and the master-creator of gardens and parks at Versailles. As he set to complete his work at Versailles in record time, Le Nôtre limited himself only a few plant species, thus, achieving a striking visual effect through expressively trimmed plant compositions.
The space of Les Jardins d'Étretat is arranged with the help of impressively-scaled plant compositions, the shapes of which are evocative of the landscapes and the natural features of Normandy. The gardens are also an open-air museum of contemporary art that offer a collection of art pieces. Impressive interplay of trimmed plants and contemporary sculptures give each part of the garden a unique character. The permanent collection of contemporary sculpture is at the architectural core of the garden, the artistic integrity, drama and general ambiance of which would be lost without these sculptural highlights.
The temporary Double Jeu exhibition coincide with the annual summer season launch at Les Jardins d'Étretat. The primary goal of Les Jardins d'Étretat’s exhibitions is to develop a social, natural and artistic milieu aimed to stimulate creativity, improve ethical values, preserve the environment and protect historical and cultural heritage.
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