Chrysanthemums - by Claude Monet

The 1890s sow new developments for Monet, who ceased to paint his family in landscape backgrounds and concentrated all his efforts instead on producing monumental series paintings. Through these he was able to take a single motif and experiment with the effects of light and color through the changing time of the day or the season. Rather than direct representations of the passing moment, these images transcended reality to become the artist's own interpretation of the natural world before him.

In 1890 he was finally able to buy the rented house and garden in Giverny and, as a further mark of stability,', Alice and Monet were married in 1892. He was financially secure and had achieved public acclaim through his giant series paintings.

The garden at his house in Giverng was Monet's great passion, especially towards the end of his life. He employed, a number of gardeners and designed his garden according to color and contrast, as though it were a painting. Chrysanthemums is a study of just such color and contrast, with the natural world reduced to on abstract pattern.