“Once settled, I hope to produce masterpieces, because I like the countryside very much.”
Claude Monet (1840–1926) French impressionist painter
in a letter to Paul Durand-Ruel: as quoted in: Daniel Wildensteijn "Monet's Giveny" in: Monet's Years at Giverny: Beyond Impressionism http://books.google.nl/books?id=H76Nl_fNgOUC, (1978) p. 16: About the countryside in Giverny <br class="br">1870 - 1890