in the 1890s, monet began to build his water garden at giverny, and this garden, periodically enlarged became his principal subject. nature here was organized according to his exact specifications. the light played across a world all of his own design. he could work out-of-doors summer after summer when the weather was right, but also work close by in his studio, where his memory would be freshest, and bring the pictures to the degree of finish he sought. he spent his final decade working on these huge canvases of the lily pond, and they remain an old man's celebration of the world of light and color. this is monet's old studio, giverny, now the gift shop restored with lavish donations from foreign sponsors, especially americans-- rockefeller, ford, henry kissinger, richard nixon. here you can buy the age of the impressionists in reproduction. it's ironic that having started out as radicals, the impressionists should end up being the art of the establishment, the most sought-after, the most well-known, and the most reproduced art in history. the familiarity of impressionism deprives us