Enchanted Madness. Claude Monet and Water Lilies

By 1914, the noisy battles that marked the emergence of the rebellious group of Impressionist artists had long since become history, and the young rebels who had provoked them – those among them who had not yet left this world – had turned into gray-bearded patriarchs of French painting. Claude Monet, who had turned 73, settled in Giverny, where he arranged his personal paradise garden with artificial ponds and hybrid lilies. French newspapers informed readers that the celebrated master had withdrawn into retirement.
And yet, the newspapers were quick to write Monet off. Despite personal and global upheavals, despite ill health, uncertainty in his abilities, and advanced age, the artist began to realize the most ambitious artistic project of his entire career – a grand cycle of landscapes featuring water lilies.