French painter and a leading member of the impressionist school. Claude Monet settled at Giverny in 1883 and developed his technique of representing nature through aerial perspective. The lily pool in his garden was used in the famous series of Water Lily paintings executed in his garden. Claude Monet's garden is also interesting as a design. It was recorded in words and pictures because of the artists and celebrity. This enabled a full restoration of the original design for Giverny which, it has to be said, is closer to a classic nineteenth century villa garden than to the ethereal mists of an impressionist painting. Yet there are brilliant colour harmonies in the garden and it is astonishingly photogenic.
