In 1893 Claude Monet, a keen gardener, bought a plot of land next to his house in Giverny, where he wanted to create a water garden ‘both for the pleasure of the eye and for the purpose of having subjects to paint’. He filled the pond with water lilies and built a bridge at one end, inspired by examples he had seen in Japanese prints. This water garden became the focus of Monet’s later career and the subject of some 250 paintings.

Alongside an overview of the painter’s life, Ross King considers the profound impact of Japanese art on Monet’s working practice, the historical events of the time, the artist’s fascination with painting bridges, and the personal tragedy that led to his ultimate desire to capture and immortalise on canvas a succession of ever-changing moments in his garden.