What are you looking at here? The curved blue-green lines across the middle of the painting are an arching footbridge. Notice the shadow of the bridge at the bottom. Colorful plants seem to float on something into the distance. Behind them, we see green willow leaves, the same willows we see above the bridge. This is the famous water lily pond of French painter Claude Monet. Monet planted gardens everywhere he lived. Then he'd set up his easel in the garden and paint the flowers in every kind of light.

His favorite garden was the one at his final home in the village of Giverny. There he built rose trellises, planting different colors of flowers as if he were putting paint on a canvas. He also built this water lily pond with its Japanese footbridge. The reflections in the water gave him a constantly changing background to paint. For most of his life, Monet travelled all over Europe to find interesting landscapes. At Giverny, he created the landscape of his dreams right outside his door, one that he could paint again and again.