Oscar-Claude Monet (UK: , US: , French: [klod mɔnɛ]; 14 November 1840– 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his long career, he was the most consistent and prolific practitioner of impressionism's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions of nature, especially as applied to plein air (outdoor) landscape painting. The term "Impressionism" is derived from the title of his painting Impression, soleil levant, exhibited in 1874 (the "exhibition of rejects") initiated by Monet and his associates as an alternative to the Salon.
Monet was raised in Le Havre, Normandy, and became interested in the outdoors and drawing from an early age. Although his mother, Louise-Justine Aubrée Monet, supported his ambitions to be a painter, his father, Claude-Adolphe, disapproved and wanted him to pursue a career in business. He was very close to his mother, but she died in January 1857 when he was sixteen years old, and he was sent to live with his childless, widowed but wealthy aunt, Marie-Jeanne Lecadre. He went on to study at the Académie Suisse, and under the academic history painter Charles Gleyre, where he was a classmate of Auguste Renoir. His early works include landscapes, seascapes, and portraits, but attracted little attention. A key early influence was Eugène Boudin who introduced him to the concept of plein air painting. From 1883, Monet lived in Giverny, also in northern France, where he purchased a house and property and began a vast landscaping project, including a water-lily pond.
Monet's ambition to document the French countryside led to a method of painting the same scene many times so as to capture the changing of light and the passing of the seasons. Among the best-known examples are his series of haystacks (1890–1891), paintings of Rouen Cathedral (1892–1894), and the paintings of water lilies in his garden in Giverny that occupied him continuously for the last 20 years of his life.
Frequently exhibited and successful during his lifetime, Monet's fame and popularity soared in the second half of the 20th century when he became one of the world's most famous painters and a source of inspiration for a burgeoning group of artists.
FAQs
With his paintings, Monet strove to capture a fleeting moment by rendering the nuances of light and color. He wanted to depict the feeling or sensation of a scene, rather than the objects within the composition.
Who was Claude Monet summary? ›
Claude Monet was a key figure in the Impressionist movement that transformed French painting in the second half of the nineteenth century. Throughout his long career, Monet consistently depicted the landscape and leisure activities of Paris and its environs as well as the Normandy coast.
In which city was the Impressionist Claude Monet born in 1840? ›
Claude Monet is a French painter known for his significant contribution to the Impressionist art movement. Born in Paris on November 14, 1840, he spent his childhood in the city of Havre (Normandy) where his family moved when he was five years old.
What illness did Claude Monet have? ›
Monet (1840-1926) known as the father of Impressionism, suffered significant loss of vision from cataracts and affected his work. His most famous work, “Water Lilies”, a series of 250 oil paintings depicting his flower garden at Giverny shows how cataracts affected his work.
Who was the French artist that died in 1926? ›
Oscar-Claude Monet (UK: , US: , French: [klod mɔnɛ]; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it.
Why did Claude Monet avoid the color black? ›
Monet felt that black had a dulling effect, so instead of black, he used a color's complement to darken an area. For example, to darken something blue, he would add some orange or red.
What inspired Claude Monet to paint? ›
His artistic production is strongly influenced by nature, protagonist in many of his paintings. Monet, like many other Impressionists, took the environment around him as a reference, something he made clear with this famous quote: "The richness I achieve comes from nature, the source of my inspiration."
What is Claude Monet remembered for? ›
Oscar-Claude Monet (Nov 14, 1840 - Dec 5, 1926) is one of the most famous Western painters of all time. The founder of Impressionist painting, creator of the iconic Water Lilies series, and a symbol of French painting, Monet is a household name, but have you ever come across these lesser-known facts about him?
What is Claude Monet's most famous piece? ›
Of course, the most famous Monet paintings are those belonging to Impressionism. The movement got this name from the title of the most recognized Monet's painting; Impression, Sunrise. It was April 1874, when an exhibition in Paris was organized.
How much is a Claude Monet painting worth? ›
Claude Monet's work has been offered at auction multiple times, with realized prices ranging from 2 USD to 110,747,000 USD, depending on the size and medium of the artwork.
Claude Monet achieved fame for being the initiator, leader, and unswerving advocate of the Impressionist style. In his work he did not try to reproduce a scene faithfully as examined in detail but rather attempted to record on the spot the impression that a relaxed, momentary vision of the scene gave him.
Why did Claude Monet paint water lilies? ›
According to Temkin, Monet loved the water lilies because he saw them as a kind of natural bridge between garden, water, and sky. The lily pond was traversed by a Japanese garden-style bridge.
What was Monet most interested in? ›
The painter Monet was more interested in the light, the changes of light and how it affected objects. Claude Monet was a french painter and popularly known for capturing the effect of natural light with his paintbrush. The works of Monet was drawn by inspiration from unique qualities of color and light.
What painter went blind? ›
Monet, Degas and Van Gogh all had eyesight problems which prevented them from seeing clearly. But far from holding them back, their visual challenges made for even richer art. It seems that painting when you don't see very well can sometimes reveal a real gift.
Was Monet blind when he died? ›
Between 1912 and 1918 his vision dropped from roughly 20/50 to 20/100. By 1922 he was down to an estimated 20/200, legally blind.
Was Monet poor when he died? ›
Claude Monet
Unfortunately, even though his paintings are amongst the most popular and expensive, even his painting reproductions, Monet could hardly make a living from selling his art during his lifetime and died poor.
Who was the painter who died at 37 years old? ›
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890): 37
Van Gogh may be the most legendary of the artists we lost too soon. The artist whose works now bring in tens of millions of dollars at auction is said to have sold only one painting in his short life.
Who was the French painter who killed himself? ›
The death of Vincent van Gogh occurred in the early morning of 29 July, 1890 in his room at the Auberge Ravoux in the French village of Auvers-sur-Oise after presumably shooting himself two days earlier.
Who was the famous painter that killed people? ›
Caravaggio trained as a painter in Milan before moving to Rome when he was in his twenties. He developed a considerable name as an artist and as a violent, touchy and provocative man. He killed Ranuccio Tommasoni in a brawl, which led to a death sentence for murder and forced him to flee to Naples.
Why did Monet paint blurry? ›
But around 1912, when Monet was 72, he was diagnosed with cataracts, a clouding of the eye's lens that alters perceptions of color and makes things look blurry or hazy. For 10 years, Monet continued to paint as his eyesight deteriorated.
Later in life, Monet developed cataracts, which give the paintings from this period a reddish tone… He was diagnosed with cataracts in both eyes in 1912 at the age of 72, from which he suffered until undergoing surgery in 1923.
Did Monet paint himself? ›
In the year 1917, before the Nymphéas were completed, Monet painted three additional self-portraits which he spoke of only hesitantly, perhaps because he saw in them the limits of what he could do at that point in his life and did not believe he could surpass them in the days he had left.
What is the message of Claude Monet's sunrise painting? ›
For while it is a poem of light and atmosphere, the painting can also be seen as an ode to the power and beauty of a revitalized France." The representation of Le Havre, hometown of Monet and a center of industry and commerce, celebrates the "renewed strength and beauty of the country...
What is the meaning of Monet? ›
A gender-neutral name of multiple origins. Most commonly, Monet comes from the name Simon and translates to “hearing” or "listen." This will always remind your little one that their voice matters and they deserve to be heard.
What are the themes in Claude Monets work? ›
Light was a central theme in Monet's work, as he sought to capture the fleeting nuances of its interaction with nature. His series paintings, such as “Haystacks” and “Rouen Cathedral”, demonstrate his fascination with the changing effects of light throughout the day and across different seasons.
What was Monet's aim? ›
During the early years of impressionism, one of Monet's primary intentions was to capture fleeting effects of light and atmosphere. Working quickly, out of doors, he sought to transcribe with directness and spontaneity his sensory experience of the landscape before him.
