I Must Have Flowers Always And

This sentiment, attributed to Monet in Claire Joyes's Monet at Giverny (1975), speaks to the practical lengths he went to in pursuit of flowers. He hired up to seven gardeners to maintain the grounds at Giverny, ordered seeds and rare plants from nurseries across Europe, and corresponded with fellow gardening enthusiasts. The garden was not merely decorative but a living studio: Monet arranged plantings so that color combinations would produce exactly the effects he wanted to paint, and he later credited flowers with having made him a painter.