00:00This was painter Claude Monet's literal window to the world, the view from his home under
00:07the colorful gardens he tended, the brilliant colors that intrigued him as an artist.
00:18It's been said he liked to paint whatever he saw around him.
00:21Yes, he liked to paint whatever he saw around him, but specifically nature.
00:26With French artist Patricia Rinsky-Darjeans as my guide, I explored Monet's gardens.
00:32He loved particularly the blue flowers.
00:34Blue was his favorite color.
00:38To see what draws thousands of visitors to this tranquil setting, its plays of natural
00:43light and colors that Claude Monet constantly chased, captured in famous paintings like
00:50Impression Sunrise and Poppy Field.
00:54So much of his work dictated by nature's illumination.
00:57He selected the place and he came back, came back, came back, so many times to make series,
01:03even several times a day just to capture the light.
01:07His pursuit of capturing the world in its raw beauty would later come to help define
01:11the Impressionist movement, celebrated earlier this year on its 150th anniversary, a style
01:18focused on nature's subtleties, a single flower or petal.
01:23How would he create that with a brush?
01:25He will make some little brush strokes, looking like little commas, side by side, because
01:31in fact the shape of the flower is not that important.
01:34It's the light coming on that that is important, you see?
01:39And here, the place that inspired some of Monet's most famous works.
01:43This will look very familiar to a lot of people.
01:46Yes, indeed.
01:47The water lilies.
01:52Many people think of this as one painting.
01:54Yes.
01:55This was many paintings.
01:56They are in total 250 paintings, never been set up about painting them again, again, again
02:04due to the changing lights.
02:06That's right.
02:07Monet painted the water lilies 250 times.
02:11He wanted to get that light and that became his masterpiece.
02:19The ponds he built in the village of Giverny, much to the annoyance of neighbors at the
02:24time, have long since been restored, along with the Japanese touches that also influenced
02:30him, allowing visitors to experience and reflect on how Monet saw the world.
02:36Don't look far away on the other bank.
02:39Just look at the reflection.
02:40Just look at the water.
02:41You are like in a painting when you stand there.
02:44So for me, it's like being like in a painting.
02:48Thanks for watching.
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