The name opens doors and raises eyebrows in equal measure. Diane Monet is a self-taught painter who says she's related to Claude — her grandfather Alexandre left Paris for New York at 24, working as a chef and sign-painter, and always told the family he was a relative of the great Impressionist. A fire in Paris destroyed many records, so the genealogy has gaps, but the connection has grown more meaningful to Diane as her own career has unfolded.

Art was never the plan. She considered nursing, then pivoted to an international career: fluent in Spanish, a marketing graduate, and eventually a corporate worker for the likes of Avon, Bristol-Myers and PepsiCo. A nudge from her late husband, Gary — who told her he wanted to marry her, but wanted her to paint — pushed her to take art seriously. More than 600 paintings later, she has exhibited across the US, been represented by international galleries and built a devoted following in Japan, where she has sold out a 25-painting show in a week.

Her subjects never change: gardens, lakes, wild landscapes. She sketches and photographs on location, then works in the studio with six or seven layers of oil and over 100 colours per canvas, never more than two paintings at a time. She won't sign a piece until she's certain — sometimes returning to the studio at 3am. There are no people in her landscapes, deliberately. The viewer gets the whole scene to themselves.

France anchors the story. Monet spends about half the year in Menton, on the Riviera close to the Italian border, in a seafront apartment. She loves the village feel, the friendly locals and the town's soft spot for animals — dogs are welcome in restaurants, and there's even a dog beach. It's a deliberate contrast with her other base, New York.

Her outlook doubles as gentle travel philosophy: put down the phone, get outside, notice things. Her work, she says, exists so people can be still and breathe. For travellers, Menton makes a natural entry point into that mindset — a quieter, warmer corner of the Côte d'Azur where gardens and lemon groves matter more than nightlife, and where an artist who claims a famous surname has found the calm she paints from.

Who's this for? Art lovers heading to the south of France, anyone curious about the Monet family thread, and travellers drawn to slow, nature-first destinations rather than the usual Riviera hotspots.

Story via France Today.