"Monet and Givenchy, Renoir and Les Collettes, Pissarro and the Hermitage at Pontoise: Impressionist artists and their homes are inseparably linked. For each, home meant something slightly different - a place of comfort in a rapidly shifting society, a sanctuary immune to changing fortunes and fame, a simpler way of life away from the city, a place to express their individuality and to entertain. In every case it shaped their art." "Organized around the artists' daily routines - eating, socializing, working, bathing, sleeping, relaxing, raising children - this book explores the home lives of the Impressionists as never before. Drawing on their paintings, diaries, letters, reminiscences, intimate sketches and family photographs, it charts the turbulence and tranquility of the artists' private lives, considering their attitudes to relationships, family, interior decoration, money and their art."--Jacket.