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The garden begins with a simple question: what does light look like when it passes through blossoms? In Springtime (1872), Monet painted his wife Camille beneath flowering lilacs. His focus was drawn to the fractured, dappled light falling through the petals.

Spring light drew Monet toward orchards. In Spring (Fruit Trees in Bloom) (1873), he faced a challenge: blossoms last only days, and sunlight filtering through them changes quickly. He had to work fast, mixing color and laying down strokes before the scene shifted.

After Camille's death in 1879 and years of financial hardship, Monet settled in Giverny in 1883. The Islands at Port-Villez (c. 1883) shows how he started by painting the surrounding landscape. Then, he decided to build his favorite landscape subject from the ground up.