Claude Monet - The Iris Garden at Giverny Desk Mat

The Iris Garden at Giverny (Le Jardin aux iris, Giverny), 1899-1900 - Claude Monet, oil on canvas. Claude Monet (Paris, 1840 - Giverny, 1926) was a French Impressionist painter. Monet had turned the flower garden in front of his house at Giverny into a carefully planned source of motifs, and irises were among his favorite plants. Around 1900 he painted several views of the garden in full bloom. Here the beds of irises fill almost the entire canvas, with only a narrow strip of path and trees to anchor the view. In May 1900 Monet invited his friend the critic Gustave Geffroy to come and see the garden, which he found especially beautiful at that moment. The close, immersive framing anticipates the viewpoints he would later use in the water garden.