Book excerpt: This book focuses on Monet's garden at Giverny as seen through his paintings, offering a revealing insight into the artist and his work. Monet's garden was a private haven where domestic pleasure, artistic vision and aesthetic delight converged. It became as powerful a passion in his life as painting - he chose his planting schemes as carefully as he chose colours for his palette. It was also the inspiration for his art, and the subject of some of his greatest paintings. Exploring his vision of the world of beauty he brought into being, Debra Mancoff shows how Monet's endeavours as a gardener were part of his identity as a painter and how his artistic vision drew strength from his passion for his garden.