Story Outline :

IN A GARDEN OF spectacular beauty in Giverny, France, Claude Monet painted flowers. Dazzled by the light he painted with rich colors of vermilion, emerald, and violet. His poppies, tulips, irises, and waterlilies have awed the world.
-- A Blue Butterfly; Front flap copy

Travel Sketches:

During the short trip I made to Paris and Giverny in preparing for this book, I was extremely lucky to see more of Claude Monet's paintings than most people are privileged to see in a lifetime.

If Monet could have watched me looking intently at each of his paintings, he probably would have smiled. And perhaps he was there--I think he was--when I first walked in his garden in Giverny, amazed at the multicolored flowers and the beautiful and forever changing light of the French countryside.

Somehow, nothing I had seen or felt until then prepared me for what I was about to encounter at the Musée de L'Orangerie in Paris. This museum was built to house Monet's now world-famous Water Lilies paintings. As I stood there gaping at the pair of astonishing paintings, I had to humbly ask myself: How did he do it, using so few colors?

When I was ready to paint my book, I hoped I would have the courage to use the same colors Monet used. And I did, following a list he had worked with in the latter part of his life. We now know that the list was incomplete. It shows only eight colors: silver, white, cobalt violet light, emerald green, ultramarine extra-fine, vermilion (rarely), cadmium yellow light, cadmium yellow dark, and lemon yellow. "And that's all!" as Monet himself exclaimed.
From the Author's Note

 

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Praises about A Blue Butterfly:

" Le Tord wins big in this visual poem about the French Impressionist master.... Her Haiku-like text provides just enough information to inspire..."
-- Publishers Weekly; Fall 1995

"This book will inspire young readers to appreciate the tiniest details of the world around them."
-- USA Today; Fall 1995

"Le Tord's luminescent watercolors paraphrase some of Monet's well-known works,..., within this story-biography, in an accessible context for young children."
-- School Library Journal; Fall 1995

"...readers appreciate Le Tord and Monet's painting challenge."
--Kirkus Review; Fall 1995

"It would be an interesting choice to share with a child..."
-- ALA Booklist; Fall 1995

"Le Tord's lyrical text and accompanying watercolors, is a gorgeous tribute to Monet."
--Children's Literature; Fall 1995

More about Monet:
Museums:

USA
Boston Museum of Fine Arts
New York Metropolitan Museum
National Gallery of Art (DC)
Brooklin Museum of Arts
Art Institute of Chicago
Museum of Modern Art

FRANCE
Le Louvre
Musée du Quai d'Orsay
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon
Musée Marmottan Monet
Foundation Claude Monet; Giverny