At Giverny, home of French Impressionist painter Claude Monet, Blanche Hoschedé painted for her own pleasure, adopting an almost pure form of Impressionism. At times it was difficult to distinguish her work from Monet's, especially during her first years in Giverny when she sometimes carried Monet's easel and canvases on a wheel-barrow. Then after helping him get situated, she would set her own easel and paint. In fact, most of her work was done "en plein-aire" because she did not have an atelier, and many of her scenes were of Monet's garden and its surroundings.

Monet, who became her father-in-law, took an interest in her career, giving her palette, brushes and paint. In 1888, while in Antibes, ...