Saying it with flowers

An ongoing show in Beijing reveals how French painter Claire Basler's art and life have merged, Lin Qi reports.

The scent of flowers is a big part of Claire Basler's idyllic life in the central French city of Vichy.

The 55-year-old painter lives in Chateau de Beauvoir, a castle in the woods, and has converted some of its interior space into a miniature botanical garden. She wakes up, dines and paints amid vivid floral arrangements and the potted landscape. Flowers recur as subjects of her oil paintings.