Yesterday, my daughter asked me this question and it completely took me by surprise. I had to think long and hard and couldn’t believe how hard it was to come up with an answer!

Several artists from the past went through my head, Picasso, Matisse, Holbein, Vermeer and Gainsborough plus some from the present, Damian Hurst, Antony Gormley, Tracey Emin. How was I to choose just one?

In the end, I chose Claude Monet and this is why…. I would have loved to have seen Monet painting at his beautiful gardens at Giverny. I have visited these gardens and they are truly beautiful. He spent hours of planning and planting over many years to create his vision. I would have wanted to watch as he worked, to see how he applied his brushstrokes and built up his impressions of light. I would watch the pace in which he worked and how he approached his large scale Waterlily series, did he work on one at a time and how did he decide when a piece was complete. I would ask what he was trying to achieve and how he felt his painting has changed over time and was he satisfied with his work.

Monet loved his garden and produced hundreds of paintings there. It is wonderful that we can still visit his house and gardens and as we stroll around it today, we can only imagine him there. He has left so much behind for us but of course there are still questions to ask.

How about you, which artist would you like to meet and what would you ask them?