Claude Monet — "I'm having a very hard time with my work. I'm completely discouraged."

"I'm so tired of these struggles. I wish I could just give up."

"These palm trees [in Bordighera, Italy] are driving me crazy; and also the motifs are extremely difficult to render, to put down on canvas; everywhere is so lush."

"I want the unobtainable. Other artists paint a bridge, a house, a boat… I want to paint the air that surrounds the bridge, the house, the boat – the beauty of the air in which these objects are locate…"

"I'm absolutely furious. I can't stand it anymore."

"Now I really feel the landscape. I can be bold and include every tone of pink and blue: it's enchanting, it's delicious."