The House at Giverny Viewed from the Rose Garden 1924

This painting of Monet’s house in Giverny shimmers with strokes of blues, pinks, and greens. Imagine Monet in his garden, squinting in the light, trying to capture not just the colors, but the feeling of the place. It’s a tough job, right? Trying to pin down something so fleeting. The paint is applied in these thick, choppy strokes, like he’s almost wrestling with the image. I wonder if he ever felt like he was losing the battle, like the garden was just too much, too alive to be tamed by paint. But then you see a little patch of pink, or a swirl of blue, and you realize he’s not trying to copy nature. He’s in conversation with it. He’s using his brush to ask questions, to feel his way through the garden, and share that with us. Artists like Monet are always showing us new ways of seeing, helping us find the extraordinary in the everyday.