Claude Monet, 1840-1926
Claude Oscar Monet, was born November 14, 1840 in Paris, the son of a grocer and his singer wife. Monet grew up in Le Havre and attended the Le Havre Secondary School of the Arts, where he first became known for his charcoal caricatures. He was a mentor of Eugene Boudin who taught him to use oil paints and to paint en plein air or outdoors. In 1859 Monet attended the Swi
...see more »ss Academy in Paris, where he first met fellow artists, Manet, Sisley, Renoir and Pissarro, who would later be known as impressionists.
In 1862, Monet joined a studio led by Charles Gleyre that encouraged artists to draw from live models. His first exhibition was two seascapes at the annual Paris Salon in 1865. In 1870, Monet married his model, Camille, and they moved to London and then to Holland to escape the Franco Prussian War, returning to France in 1872. The impressionists began exhibiting as a group in 1874 with Monet, the most recognized artist and leader of the impressionist group to this day. In 1887 he exhibits in New York at Durand-Ruel Gallery.
Monet's style refined the art of observation of sunlight applying color in strong broad strokes to capture the brilliant effects of light on nature. He traveled throughout France to find the most scenic areas, especially the coastlines of the Mediterranean and Atlantic. By the1880s, he had achieved artistic and financial recognition so that he was able to purchase property in Giverny in 1890. He lived in Giverny for over forty years, constructing a garden and lily pond that would serve as his subject matter for his art for the rest of his life. He worked on many "series" of paintings throughout his career including water lilies, poplars, haystacks, the Seine in various seasons at various times of the day and Rouen Cathedral.
In 1907 Monet began having trouble with his eyesight and by 1923 he was nearly blind. After cataract surgery, his sight improved so that he continued to paint until his death of lung cancer on December 5, 1926 at Giverny. Many of Monet's paintings hang in the Orangerie in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Art Institute of Chicago. His work can also be seen at his former home in Giverny and at private and public collections or with retailers around the world. Monet remains one of the most celebrated and recognized of the impressionist artists.
Partial list of artwork:
A year after his death, the almost abstract 'Water Lilies', series was installed in two specially designed oval-shaped rooms in the Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris.
1865 View of the Coast at Le Havre (Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota)
1866 Madame Gaudibert (Louvre, Paris)
1866 The Terrace at Sainte-Adresse (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City)
1867 Women in a Garden (Musée d'Orsay, Paris)
1870 The Beach at Trouville (Tate, London)
1871 The Thames and the Houses of Parliament (Lord Astor of Hever Collection, London)
1872 Impression: Fog (Musée Marmottan, Paris)
1872 Impression: Sunrise (Musée Marmottan, Paris)
1873 Wild Poppies (Louvre, Paris)
1876 La Japonaise (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
1880 The Artist's Garden at Vétheuil (National Gallery of Art, Washington DC)
1887 La Gare St Lazare (National Gallery, London)
1888 Poplars at Giverny, Sunrise (Museum of Modern Art, New York City)
1890-1 Haystacks (Art Institute of Chicago)
1903 Houses of Parliament, Sunlight Effect
1914-17 Yellow and Lilac Water-Lilies
c.1920 Water Lilies (Museum of Modern Art, New York City)
c.1920-2 The Japanese Footbridge (Museum of Modern Art, New York City)« see less
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