Centre des monuments nationaux

Discover the place where Georges Clemenceau retired during the last ten years of his life, twenty or so kilometres from Les Sables d'Olonne at Saint-Vincent-sur-Jard. The house and garden are both very modest, and reveal unexpected aspects of the personality of this great Statesman.

Visiting Georges Clemenceau's house

• A simple fisherman's dwelling. This low-level house on the Atlantic coast has remained exactly as it was when Clemenceau died in 1929. He was a passionate lover of Far Eastern art and culture, and his various souvenirs include Japanese paintings and prints, Asian vases and Buddhist divinities. 

• An ‘impressionist' garden. Clemenceau designed a garden in the dunes made up of touches of colour with the help of his great friend, the painter Claude Monet (1840-1926). Thanks to their correspondence, the original plantations were recreated in 2006.

Understanding Georges Clemenceau and his house 

• The retreat of the ‘Tiger'. Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929) first became famous as a journalist when he published Zola's famous ‘J'accuse' in his daily paper, L'Aurore. He was head of the Radical party then prime minister from 1906 to 1909, and was called back to power in 1917. The ‘Father of Victory' rented this house in his region of birth from 1919, before retiring from political life here.

• A place for meditation and writing. It was here facing the ocean that Clemenceau, who was elected by acclamation to the Académie française in 1918 - went back over the events of his remarkable life and wrote several books.