Windswept skies, towering poplars, vertiginous cliffs, majestic cityscapes -- Claude Monet captured in lumninous paint the fleeting moments that make up these images of landscape. In so doing, he conveyed the vitality of nature and the elements. In this book, author and photographer Vivian Russell follows in Monet's footsteps to photograph his favourite painting haunts and describes, in a meticulously researched text, the personal and artistic journey that led to that achievement. Presented alongside Monet's paintings, Vivian Russell's superb photographs capture the spirit and exeitement of the locations -- on the River Creuse, around the coasts of France, near his home at Giveruy, and on his travels to Holland. Norway and Venice. Taken during the appropriate seasons, they convey the visual drama of Monet's motifs -- their form, and the play and quality of the light that inspired him to paint them.

Vivian Russell's book, Monet's Garden: Through the Seasons at Giverny won her the Garden Writers' Guild Award and established her reputation for combining superb photography with a gift for writing. A regular contributor to various magazines including Gardens Illustrated, The Saturday Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph Magazine, she is also the author and photographer of other books