The painting, The Artist's Garden at Vétheuil, 1881, is by the French Impressionist painter, Oscar-Claude Monet. He was born in 1840 and died in 1926. The house in the painting was in the small village of Vétheuil in France. In 1878, Monet went to live there with his wife, Camille, his son, Jean and his son, Michel. Soon after they arrived in Vétheuil, Monet's wife died, but Monet stayed in Vétheuil with his two boys.
Monet painted a lot of his paintings outside, and he often painted his garden in different light and at different times of the day. Monet loved to plant flowers where he lived. In the garden in Vétheuil, he planted tall flowers, and the blue and white flowerpots in the painting were Monet's. He took them with him every time he moved house, and they are in many of his paintings. Look closely at the flowerpots. What different colors can you see? The boy in the painting next to a toy is Monet's son, Michel. We don't know who the woman was in the painting. The painting has many bright colors, but it was a sad time in Monet's life.