Art Tales for Pre-K. Classroom Activity Art Starters: Claude Monet Part of Art Tales for Pre-K Claude Monet loved art and nature. He combined those two loves by planting colorful gardens wherever he lived and then painting them. Monet carefully planned his gardens to be beautiful and different in every season, and he painted many different versions of his gardens. Claude Monet, The Artist's Garden at Vétheuil , 1881,