Claude Monet's gardens in Giverny, France, which were recreated in 1980 after being abandoned in the 1950s, are now suffering from severe overtourism. The site, which attracted 70,000 visitors in its first year, is expected to exceed one million visitors in 2026, the centenary of Monet's death. Crowds are so dense that visitors report feeling unable to experience any emotion, and gardeners spend hours each morning repairing damage from trampling. The gardens have become a kind of industrial product, with 15,000 plants propagated each season to replace those destroyed.
This matters because it highlights a growing crisis in cultural heritage management: how to balance public access with preservation of living artworks. Monet's gardens are not just a tourist attraction but an integral part of his artistic legacy, inspiring the Water Lilies series at the Orangerie. The article raises urgent questions about the limits of visitation for fragile, living sites and whether constant substitution of plants undermines the authenticity that draws visitors in the first place. It reflects a broader tension between democratizing access to art and protecting the very works people come to see.