Claude Monet at the table

For Monet, the meal that mattered wasn't dinner but lunch, served at exactly half past eleven to free up the afternoon and its light. Everyone gathered in the famous yellow dining room: first eggs, vegetables, and small starters from the kitchen garden, then a roast meat or fish, and always, to finish, a dessert of apples or pastry. Around the table, jars of summer preserves and homemade liqueurs marked the year according to the orchard and garden.