- The Impressionist Claude Monet is a famous artist associated with provincial landscapes and scenes complementary to French country decor. Many of Monet's landscapes were painted en plein air, meaning outdoors in natural light, rather than in a studio. Monet said "The richness I achieve comes from nature, the source of my inspiration." You may not be able to have a Monet original, but certainly any print of a Monet landscape or garden would be wonderfully at home in your French country decor. A high-quality wall calendar featuring Monet paintings, or a book of Monet art with full color photos may just provide you with prints good enough to frame, too.
- Colorful paintings of landscapes featuring gardens and cobbled paths, rioting blossoms and inviting cottages are perfect for French country decor. You can find prints of such paintings, including canvas-look prints stretched over wood. A fine present day artist creating these beautiful impressionistic paintings is Jennifer Young, and her website is listed below.
- Roosters abound in French country decor, as does toile, which is that familiar sketch style art of pastoral scenes in one color on a white background, including, of course, roosters. But other motifs include beetles, olives, flowers and the fleur de lis. These are simple images you could reproduce and paint yourself. Or scan in one of these motifs, such as the fleur de lis, and colorize it in different hues, such as lavender, gold, orange, hunter green or sky blue. Then print out the color versions all in the same size and frame them to match in wrought iron. Voila--you have a French country art grouping to accessorize your decor.
