It is a summer's day in the 1890s and Monet's house at Giverny is in its heyday. Outside, the ochre-pink walls are punctuated by brilliant green shutters and a new wooden balcony runs the length of the house. Inside, light streams through open windows, illuminating the vibrant-coloured rooms.
This book is an invitation to join the privileged few - Monet's fellow painters such as Renoir and Caillebotte and a circle of writers, critics and friends that included Clemenceau - who came to Giverny and enjoyed the artist's hospitality.
As she moves through the house the author describes the mealtime rituals of the yellow dining room, the studio where Monet worked and entertained and the family activities that animated the blue room. Doors are opened on a private world, and Guy Bouchet's photographs capture the atmosphere of the home as it looked at the turn of the century. Monet is revealed as a master decorator as innovative in his choice of colours for walls and furniture as he was in his canvases.
