a wealthy industrialist. Eventually the man went through financial ruin and died. Monet’s first wife had also died. Monet married the industrialist’s wife, who by then had no money, and she and her children came to live at Giverny. The blended family included eight children, and filled this house with laughter, love, and myriad festive happenings. Photographs on the walls depict weddings and other family occurrences that flourished in this residence.

Renown, wealth, good food and drink, and being surrounded by family and friends. Those are things we strive for. Monet had them all. And he had something else, an artistic, creative profession that absorbed him night and day. And he did it on his own schedule. He got up in the morning and worked to his heart’s content, doing something he loved and revered...

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