The Moreno Garden at Bordighera 1884

Claude Monet created ‘The Moreno Garden at Bordighera’ using oil on canvas, capturing a scene from his travels in Italy. Monet, a key figure of the Impressionist movement, often sought to capture the fleeting moment. In this painting, the light-drenched garden in Bordighera is rendered with vibrant colors and a focus on natural beauty. But as a white, male, European artist, Monet's gaze may have filtered out the indigenous voices or colonial histories that shaped this landscape. How might the scene differ if it were painted by someone whose identity was intertwined with the garden's history, or by a local gardener whose labor maintained it? What would the artwork communicate if those with a deeper connection to this land were to represent it? The painting transports us to a specific place, but also prompts us to consider the broader context of who is seen, who is heard, and whose stories are told.