Oscar Claude Monet was born in 1840 and is well known as the founder of the 19th century art movement called Impressionism. He was a French impressionist and many say that his painting Impression: Series was actually the inspiration to coin the term Impressionism. Monet was a painter that believed in expression of your own perceptions of nature. He originally started as a landscape artist before moving into impressionism.
In 1851 Monet entered Le Havre secondary school of the arts where he trained to become an artist and rejected the idea of becoming a grocer like his father. Many in the school had heard of Monet because he earned money using charcoal to create impressive caricatures. Monet had an open mind to art and he was able to learn many different methods from respected artists Jacques-Francois Orchard and also Eugene Boudin. Claude Monet was able to learn how to draw but to also learn how to use oil paints and found out different ways to use outdoor environments to inspire you to become an impressive painter.
Although Monet loved school he had to leave school at the age of 16 because his mother died. He moved in with his aunt, Marie-Jeanne Lecadre. Eventually Monet was able to travel to Paris and he visited the Louvre where he was able to view many master painters and watched them paint. He learned from them but also happened to have his own painting tools with him and he would sit and paint what he was able to observe. As he would visit Paris and paint, he also ended up making friends with other painters like Edouard Manet.
In 1861 Monet enlisted in the army (the First Regiment of African Light Cavalry in Algeria). He was signed up for 7 years but was sent home after 2 because he ended up with typhoid fever. When Monet was home from the army he became a student of Charles Glvre and was introduced to Pierre-Auguste Renoir, whom Monet learned from well and used some of his new approaches to art. He learned of different lights and rapid brushstrokes and other things, which all lead up to Impressionism.
In 1866 Monet was able to meet Camille Doncieux as she modeled for his paintings Camille or The Woman in the Green Dress and Women in the Garden. Camille and Monet were married and she gave birth to their child Jean.
Throughout the 1870’s Monet studies many other painters and learned about landscapes and new color methods. He painted many works but they were often rejected by the Royal Academy exhibition. After being rejected in 1871 he choose to move to the Netherlands where he able to create 25 different paintings. He returned to France later that year and was able to paint many beautiful works. One of the most popular works he painted was Impression, Sunrise.
Monet and his wife and child traveled often as he was search new lights and landscapes. They were able to have a second child in 1878 but his beloved wife Camille Monet ended up dying later that year of tuberculosis at 32 years old. Claude Monet ended up painting his wife on her deathbed.
After the death of his wife Monet continued painting and started focusing on water lilies and other things like haystacks. He ended up purchasing land in Giverny and used the garden he built to create Water Lillies and many other paintings.
Monet is one of the most important names to impressionism and to painting. His paintings command millions of dollars in today’s society as some of them have sold for over $39 million.
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