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Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of
Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
painting who is seen as a key precursor to
modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
, 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'', which was exhibited in 1874 at the
First Impressionist Exhibition The First Impressionist Exhibition was an art exhibition held by the , a group of nineteenth-century artists who had been rejected by the official Paris Salon (Paris), Salon and pursued their own venue to exhibit their artworks. The exhibition wa ...
, initiated by Monet and a number of like-minded artists as an alternative to the
Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...
. Monet was raised in
Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...
,
Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...
, 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 The Académie Suisse () was a very popular, informal art school founded by Martin François Suisse (1781–1859)From Filae.com, 23 juin 2021. Source: Registres journaliers d'inhumation des cimetières parisiens. Les documents d'origine sont consul ...
, and under the academic
history painter History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often (but not exclusively) Greek mythology, Greek and Roman my ...
Charles Gleyre Marc Gabriel Charles Gleyre (2 May 1806 – 5 May 1874), was a Swiss artist who was a resident in France from an early age. He took over the studio of Paul Delaroche in 1843 and taught a number of younger artists who became prominent, including He ...
, where he was a classmate of
Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; ; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French people, French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionism, Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially femininity, fe ...
. His early works include landscapes, seascapes, and portraits, but attracted little attention. A key early influence was
Eugène Boudin Eugène Louis Boudin (; 12 July 1824 – 8 August 1898) was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors. Boudin was a marine painter, and expert in the rendering of all that goes upon the sea and along its shores. His pastels, ...
, who introduced him to the concept of ''plein air'' painting. From 1883, Monet lived in
Giverny Giverny () is a Communes of France, commune in the northern French Departments of France, department of Eure.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, which occupied him 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.


Biography


Birth and childhood

Claude Monet was born on 14 November 1840 on the fifth floor of 45
rue Laffitte The Rue Laffitte is a street in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, located near the Metro stations Richelieu - Drouot and Notre-Dame-de-Lorette. History This street was created in 1771 between the Boulevard des Italiens and the Rue de Provence. ...
, in the
9th arrondissement of Paris The 9th arrondissement of Paris (''IXe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as (; "ninth"). The arrondissement, called Opéra, is located on the right bank of th ...
.P. Tucker ''Claude Monet: Life and Art'', p. 5 He was the second son of Claude Adolphe Monet (1800–1871) and Louise Justine Aubrée Monet (1805–1857), both of them second-generation Parisians. On 20 May 1841, he was baptised in the local Paris church, Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, as Oscar-Claude, but his parents called him simply Oscar. Although baptised Catholic, Monet later became an atheist. In 1845, his family moved to
Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...
in
Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...
. His father, a
wholesale Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...
merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...
, wanted him to go into the family's ship-chandling and grocery business, but Monet wanted to become an artist. His mother was a singer, and supported Monet's desire for a career in art. On 1 April 1851, he entered Le Havre secondary school of the arts. He was an apathetic student who, after showing skill in art from a young age, began drawing caricatures and portraits of acquaintances at age 15 for money. He began his first drawing lessons from
Jacques-François Ochard Jacques-François Ochard (1800–1870) was a French artist, remembered as the first art teacher of Claude Monet at his high school.Jacques-Louis David Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...
.Fourny-Dargère, Sophie, and Claude Monet (1992). ''Monet''. New York: Konecky and Konecky. p. 30. . In around 1858, he met fellow artist
Eugène Boudin Eugène Louis Boudin (; 12 July 1824 – 8 August 1898) was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors. Boudin was a marine painter, and expert in the rendering of all that goes upon the sea and along its shores. His pastels, ...
, who would encourage Monet to develop his techniques, teach him the "
en plein air ''En plein air'' (; French language, French for 'outdoors'), or plein-air painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein ai ...
" (outdoor) techniques for painting and take Monet on painting excursions. Monet thought of Boudin as his master, whom "he owed everything to" for his later success. In 1857, his mother died. He lived with his father and aunt, Marie-Jeanne Lecadre; Lecadre would be a source of support for Monet in his early art career.


First stay in Paris (1859-1860)

Claude Monet arrived in Paris in April 1859 and settled into the Hôtel du Nouveau Monde, Place du Havre. He immediately visited the salon which had just opened. Then he was welcomed by Armand Gautier, a friend of his aunt Jeanne Lecadre. The latter paid him a regular pension and managed his savings of around 2,000 francs which he had accumulated through the sale of his drawings. They would be precious to him because his father had applied for a grant from the city of Le Havre, on 6 August 1858, but he was refused. He also visited Charles Lhuillier, Charles Monginot and
Constant Troyon Constant Troyon (; August 28, 1810 – February 21, 1865) was a French painter of the Barbizon school. In the early part of his career, he painted mostly landscapes. It was only comparatively late in life that Troyon found his ''métier'' as ...
. The latter two advised him to enter the studio of
Thomas Couture Thomas Couture (; 21 December 1815 – 30 March 1879) was a French history painter and teacher. He taught many notable contemporary figures of the art world, such as Édouard Manet, Henri Fantin-Latour, John La Farge, Pierre Puvis de Chava ...
, who was preparing for the
École des Beaux-Arts ; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centu ...
. However, the latter refused the young Monet. At the beginning of 1860, probably in February, he entered the
Académie Suisse The Académie Suisse () was a very popular, informal art school founded by Martin François Suisse (1781–1859)From Filae.com, 23 juin 2021. Source: Registres journaliers d'inhumation des cimetières parisiens. Les documents d'origine sont consul ...
, located on the Île de la Cité , which was directed by Charles Suisse. There he met
Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( ; ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). ...
in particular. At the Salon that year, he particularly admired the works of
Eugène Delacroix Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( ; ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French people, French Romanticism, Romantic artist who was regarded as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: ...
, the previous year it was
Charles-François Daubigny Charles-François Daubigny ( , , ; 15 February 181719 February 1878) was a French painter, one of the members of the Barbizon school, and is considered an important precursor of impressionism. He was also a prolific printmaker, mostly in etching ...
who had attracted his attention. This first stay was not, however, devoted only to work. Indeed, Claude spent a significant part of his time in Parisian cafés and more particularly at the Brasserie des Martyrs, then a popular meeting place for authors and artists.


Algeria

On 2 March 1861, the 20 year old Monet was drawn at Le Havre to be conscripted into the army.Wullschläger, pp. 50, 53, 54, 57, 58 Certainly, his family could have paid the cost of 2,500 francs for a substitute, but while initially Monet claimed in 1900 that they required in return that he renounce his artistic career to take over the family business, by the 1920s he had changed this to him having to become a “selon la norme” (normal artist). Monet refused and so enlisted for seven years with the 1st Regiment of
Chasseurs d'Afrique ''Chasseur'' ( , ), a French language, French term for "hunter", is the designation given to certain regiments of France, French and Belgium, Belgian light infantry () or light cavalry () to denote troops trained for rapid action. History T ...
Chasseurs d'Afrique on April 29, 1861. The army records described him as being in good health, 1.65 m tall, with brown hair and chestnut eyes. In June 1861 crossed across Algeria to join his regiment in Mustapha. Prior to this he had never been further from Normandy than Paris and had never ridden a horse. In the spring of 1862, he contracted
typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often th ...
and was allowed to return to Le Havre during the summer to recuperate with his aunt, Jeanne Lecadre in
Sainte-Adresse Sainte-Adresse () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the region of Normandy, France. Geography A coastal suburb situated some northwest of Le Havre city centre, at the junction of the D147 and the D940. The English Channel forms ...
, Normandy. While there he met
Eugène Boudin Eugène Louis Boudin (; 12 July 1824 – 8 August 1898) was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors. Boudin was a marine painter, and expert in the rendering of all that goes upon the sea and along its shores. His pastels, ...
again. His aunt agreed to discharge him from the army and pay the 3,025 francs that it cost, on condition that he take art classes at an academy. While painting during the summer of 1862, near Cap de la Héve he was introduced to and became friends with the Dutch painter
Johan Jongkind Johan Barthold Jongkind (; 3 June 1819 – 9 February 1891) was a Dutch painter and printmaker. He painted marine landscapes in a free manner and is regarded as a forerunner of impressionism. Biography Jongkind was born in the town of Lat ...
, who together with Boudin was an important mentor to Monet. He received his good conduct discharge on 21 November 1862. Despite the experiences that Monet had in Algeria, which may have seemed unpleasant, he generally remembered it well. His time in Algeria had a powerful effect on Monet, who later said that the light and vivid colours of North Africa "contained the gem of my future researches". He also told
Gustave Geffroy Gustave Geffroy (; 1 June 1855 – 4 April 1926) was a French journalist, art critic, historian and novelist. He was one of the ten founding members of the literary organisation Académie Goncourt in 1900. Geffroy is noted as one of the first hi ...
: "It did me the greatest good in every way and put some lead in my head. I thought only of painting, intoxicated as I was by this admirable country, and I now had the full approval of my family who saw me so full of ardor.”


Return to Paris

Monet returned to Paris in December 1862, where he enrolled in
Charles Gleyre Marc Gabriel Charles Gleyre (2 May 1806 – 5 May 1874), was a Swiss artist who was a resident in France from an early age. He took over the studio of Paul Delaroche in 1843 and taught a number of younger artists who became prominent, including He ...
studio, the École impériale des beaux-arts de Paris at 70 rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs due to the recommendations of his cousin by marriage Auguste Toulmouche. However he ended up leaving Gleyre's studio, as they disagreed on the method of presenting nature. While here he met
Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; ; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French people, French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionism, Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially femininity, fe ...
and
Frédéric Bazille Jean Frédéric Bazille (; December 6, 1841 – November 28, 1870) was a French Impressionist painter. Many of Bazille's major works are examples of figure painting in which he placed the subject figure within a landscape painted '' en plein ai ...
. Bazille eventually became his closest friend. In search of motifs, they traveled to
Honfleur Honfleur () is a commune in the Calvados department in northwestern France. It is located on the southern bank of the estuary of the Seine across from Le Havre and very close to the exit of the Pont de Normandie. The people that inhabit Hon ...
where Monet painted several "studies" of the harbor and the mouth of the Seine. Monet often painted alongside Renoir and
Alfred Sisley Alfred Sisley (; ; 30 October 1839 – 29 January 1899) was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life in France, but retained British citizenship. He was the most consistent of the Impressionists in his dedic ...
, both of whom shared his desire to articulate new standards of beauty in conventional subjects. During this time he painted ''Women in Garden'', his first successful large-scale painting, and , the "most important painting of Monet's early period". Having debuted at the Salon in 1865 with ''La Pointe de la Hève at Low Tide'' and ''Mouth of the Seine at Honfleur'' to large praise, he hoped would help him break through into the Salon of 1866. He could not finish it in a timely manner and instead submitted ''The Woman in the Green Dress'' and ''Pavé de Chailly'' to acceptance. Thereafter, he submitted works to the Salon annually until 1870, but they were accepted by the juries only twice, in 1866 and 1868. He sent no more works to the Salon until his single, final attempt in 1880. His work was considered radical, "discouraged at all official levels". In 1867 his then-mistress,
Camille Doncieux Camille-Léonie Doncieux (; 15 January 1847 – 5 September 1879) was the first wife of French painter Claude Monet, with whom she had two sons. She was the subject of a number of paintings by Monet, as well as Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Édoua ...
—whom he had met two years earlier as a model for his paintings—gave birth to their first child,
Jean Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * J ...
. Monet had a strong relationship with Jean, claiming that Camille was his lawful wife so Jean would be considered legitimate. Monet's father stopped financially supporting him as a result of the relationship. Earlier in the year Monet had been forced to move to his aunt's house in
Sainte-Adresse Sainte-Adresse () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the region of Normandy, France. Geography A coastal suburb situated some northwest of Le Havre city centre, at the junction of the D147 and the D940. The English Channel forms ...
. There he immersed himself in his work, although a temporary problem with his eyesight, probably related to stress, prevented him from working in sunlight. Monet loved his family dearly, painting many portraits of them such as ''Child With a Cup, a Portrait of Jean Monet''. This painting in particular shows the first signs of Monets' later famous impressionistic work. With help from the art collector Louis-Joachim Gaudibert, he reunited with Camille and moved to
Étretat Étretat () is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-Maritime Departments of France, department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy Regions of France, region of Northwestern France. It is a Tourism, tourist and Agriculture, far ...
the following year. Around this time, he was trying to establish himself as a figure painter who depicted the "explicitly contemporary, bourgeois", an intention that continued into the 1870s. He did evolve his painting technique and integrate stylistic experimentation in his plein-air style—as evidenced by '' The Beach at Sainte-Adresse'' and '' On the Bank of the Seine'' respectively, the former being his "first sustained campaign of painting that involved tourism". Several of his paintings had been purchased by Gaudibert, who commissioned a painting of his wife, alongside other projects; the Gaudiberts were for two years "the most supportive of Monet's hometown
patrons Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...
". Monet would later be financially supported by the artist and art collector
Gustave Caillebotte Gustave Caillebotte (; 19 August 1848 – 21 February 1894) was a French painter who was a member and patron of the Impressionists, although he painted in a more Realism (arts), realistic manner than many others in the group. Caillebotte was kno ...
, Bazille and perhaps
Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( ; ; ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and the ...
, although creditors still pursued him.


Exile and Argenteuil

He married Camille on 28 June 1870, just before the outbreak of the
Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...
.Charles Stuckey "Monet, a Retrospective", Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, 195 During the war, he and his family lived in London and the Netherlands to avoid
conscription Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it conti ...
. Monet and
Charles-François Daubigny Charles-François Daubigny ( , , ; 15 February 181719 February 1878) was a French painter, one of the members of the Barbizon school, and is considered an important precursor of impressionism. He was also a prolific printmaker, mostly in etching ...
lived in self-imposed
exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...
. While living in London, Monet met his old friend Pissarro and the American painter
James Abbott McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter in oils and watercolor, and printmaker, active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral a ...
, and befriended his first and primary
art dealer An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and builds relationsh ...
,
Paul Durand-Ruel Paul Durand-Ruel (; 31 October 1831 – 5 February 1922) was a French art dealer associated with the Impressionists and the Barbizon School. Being the first to support artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, he ...
, an encounter that would be decisive for his career. There he saw and admired the works of
John Constable John Constable (; 11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romanticism, Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedha ...
and
J. M. W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbu ...
and was impressed by Turner's treatment of light, especially in the works depicting the fog on the
Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...
.Dominique Lobstein, ''Monet'', Éditions Jean-Paul Gisserot, 2002, pp. 38, 106-107 He repeatedly painted the Thames, Hyde Park and
Green Park The Green Park, one of the Royal Parks of London, is in the City of Westminster, Central London. Green Park is to the north of the gardens and semi-circular forecourt of Buckingham Palace, across Constitution Hill road. The park is in the m ...
. In the spring of 1871, his works were refused authorisation for inclusion in the Royal Academy exhibition and police suspected him of revolutionary activities. That same year he learned of his father's death. The family moved to
Argenteuil Argenteuil () is a Communes of France, commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. Argenteuil is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise Departments of France, ...
in 1871, where he, influenced by his time with Dutch painters, mostly painted the
Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...
's surrounding area. He acquired a sailboat to paint on the river. In 1874, he signed a six-and-a-half year lease and moved into a newly built "rose-colored house with green shutters" in Argenteuil, where he painted fifteen paintings of his garden from a
panoramic A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography (panoramic photography), film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word ...
perspective. Paintings such as ''Gladioli'' marked what was likely the first time Monet had cultivated a garden for the purpose of his art. The house and garden became the "single most important" motif of his final years in Argenteuil. For the next four years, he painted mostly in Argenteuil and took an interest in the colour theories of chemist
Michel Eugène Chevreul Michel Eugène Chevreul (; 31 August 1786 – 9 April 1889) was a French chemist whose work contributed to significant developments in science, medicine, and art. Chevreul's early work with animal fats revolutionized soap and candle manufacturing ...
. For three years of the decade, he rented a large villa in Saint-Denis for a thousand francs per year. ''Camille Monet on a Garden Bench'' displays the garden of the villa, and what some have argued to be Camille's grief upon learning of her father's death. Monet and Camille were often in financial straits during this period—they were unable to pay their hotel bill during the summer of 1870 and likely lived on the outskirts of London as a result of insufficient funds. An inheritance from his father, together with sales of his paintings, did, however, enable them to hire two servants and a gardener by 1872. Following the successful exhibition of some maritime paintings and the winning of a silver medal at Le Havre, Monet's paintings were seized by creditors, from whom they were bought back by a shipping merchant, Gaudibert, who was also a patron of Boudin.Charles F. Stuckey, pp. 11–16


Impressionism

When Durand-Ruel's previous support of Monet and his peers began to decline, Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley,
Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work introduced new modes of representation, influenced avant-garde artistic movements of the early 20th century a ...
,
Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints, and drawings. Degas is e ...
, and
Berthe Morisot Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (; 14 January 1841 – 2 March 1895) was a French painter, printmaker and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists. In 1864, Morisot exhibited for the first time in the ...
exhibited their work independently; they did so under the name the Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors and Engravers for which Monet was a leading figure in its formation. He was inspired by the style and subject matter of his slightly older contemporaries, Pissarro and Édouard Manet. The group, whose title was chosen to avoid association with any style or movement, were unified in their independence from the Salon and rejection of the prevailing
academicism Academic art, academicism, or academism, is a style of painting and sculpture produced under the influence of European academies of art. This method extended its influence throughout the Western world over several centuries, from its origins i ...
. Monet gained a reputation as the foremost landscape painter of the group. At the first exhibition, in 1874, Monet displayed, among others, ''
Impression, Sunrise ''Impression, Sunrise'' () is an 1872 painting by Claude Monet first shown at what would become known as the " Exhibition of the Impressionists" in Paris in April, 1874. The painting is credited with inspiring the name of the Impressionist movem ...
'', ''The Luncheon'' and ''
Boulevard des Capucines The Boulevard des Capucines () is a boulevard in Paris. It is one of the 'Grands Boulevards' in Paris, a chain of boulevards built through the former course of the Wall of Charles V and the Louis XIII Wall, which were destroyed on the orders ...
''. The art critic
Louis Leroy Louis Leroy (; 1812 - 1885) was a French 19th-century printmaker, painter, and playwright. Biography He is remembered as the journalist and art critic for the French satirical newspaper '' Le Charivari'', who coined the term "impressionists" ...
wrote a hostile review. Taking particular notice of ''Impression, Sunrise'' (1872), a hazy depiction of Le Havre port and stylistic detour, he coined the term "
Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
". Conservative critics and the public derided the group, with the term initially being ironic and denoting the painting as unfinished. More progressive critics praised the depiction of modern life—Louis Edmond Duranty called their style a "revolution in painting". Leroy later regretted inspiring the name, as he believed that they were a group "whose majority had nothing impressionist". The total attendance is estimated at 3,500. Monet priced ''Impression: Sunrise'' at 1,000 francs, but failed to sell it.Bernard Denvir, ''The Chronicle of Impressionism: A Timeline History of Impressionist Art'', Bulfinch Press Book, 1993Bernard Denvir, ''The chronicle of impressionism: an intimate diary of the lives and world of the great artists''
, Thames & Hudson, Limited, 1993 The exhibition was open to anyone prepared to pay 60 francs and gave artists the opportunity to show their work without the interference of a jury. Another exhibition was held in 1876, again in opposition to the Salon. Monet displayed 18 paintings, including ''The Beach at Sainte-Adresse'' which showcased multiple Impressionist characteristics. For the third exhibition, on 5 April 1877, he selected seven paintings from the dozen he had made of
Gare Saint-Lazare The Gare Saint-Lazare (; ), officially Paris Saint Lazare, is one of the seven large mainline List of Paris railway stations, railway station terminals in Paris, France. It was the first railway station built in Paris, opening in 1837. It mostly ...
in the past three months, the first time he had "synced as many paintings of the same site, carefully coordinating their scenes and temporalities". The paintings were well received by critics, who especially praised the way he captured the arrival and departures of the trains. By the fourth exhibition, his involvement was by means of negotiation on Caillebotte's part. His last time exhibiting with the Impressionists was in 1882—four years before the final Impressionist exhibition. Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Morisot, Cézanne and Sisley proceeded to experiment with new methods of depicting reality. They rejected the dark, contrasting lighting of romantic and realist paintings, in favour of the pale tones of their peers' paintings such as those by
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; 16 July 1796 – 22 February 1875), or simply Camille Corot, was a French Landscape art, landscape and Portraitist, portrait painter as well as a printmaking, printmaker in etching. A pivotal figure in ...
and Boudin. After developing methods for painting transient effects, Monet would go on to seek more demanding subjects, new patrons and collectors; his paintings produced in the early 1870s left a lasting impact on the movement and his peers—many of whom moved to Argenteuil as a result of admiring his depiction. File:Monet, Claude - View At Rouelles, Le Havre (1858).jpg, ''View at Rouelles, Le Havre'' 1858, private collection; an early work showing the influence of Corotà Sainte-Adresse and
Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( ; ; ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and the ...
File:Claude Monet - Mouth of the Seine.jpg, ''Mouth of the Seine at Honfleur'', 1865, Norton Simon Foundation, Pasadena, California; indicates the influence of Dutch maritime painting. File:Claude Monet - La Vague Verte.jpg, ''The Green Wave'', 1866,
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
File:Claude Monet 024.jpg, '' Women in the Garden'', 1866–1867,
Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...
, Paris File:Claude Monet 022.jpg, '' Woman in the Garden'', 1867, Hermitage, St. Petersburg; a study in the effect of sunlight and shadow on colour. File:Claude Monet - Jardin à Sainte-Adresse.jpg, ''
Garden at Sainte-Adresse The ''Garden at Sainte-Adresse'' is a painting by the French impressionist painter Claude Monet. (Oil on canvas, ). The painting was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art after an auction sale at Christie's in December 1967, under the French ...
'' ("Jardin à Sainte-Adresse"), 1867, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York File:Claude Monet - The Luncheon - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Luncheon'', 1868,
Städel The Städel, officially the ''Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie'', is an art museum in Frankfurt, with one of the most important collections in Germany. The museum is located at the Museumsufer on the Sachsenhausen bank of t ...
, which features Camille Doncieux and Jean Monet, was rejected by the Paris Salon of 1870 but included in the first Impressionists' exhibition in 1874. File:Claude Monet La Grenouillére.jpg, ''
La Grenouillére LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smit ...
'' 1869, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; a small plein-air painting created with broad strokes of intense colour. File:Claude Monet - On the Bank of the Seine, Bennecourt - 1922.427 - Art Institute of Chicago.jpg, '' On the Bank of the Seine, Bennecourt'', 1868,
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...
File:Claude Monet - The Magpie - Google Art Project.jpg, '' The Magpie'', 1868–1869. Musée d'Orsay, Paris; one of Monet's early attempts at capturing the effect of snow on the landscape. See also ''
Snow at Argenteuil ''Snow at Argenteuil'' () is an oil-on-canvas landscape painting by the Impressionist artist Claude Monet. It is the largest of no fewer than eighteen works Monet painted of his home commune of Argenteuil Argenteuil () is a Communes of France, ...
'' File:Claude Monet, 1870, Le port de Trouville (Breakwater at Trouville, Low Tide), oil on canvas, 54 x 65.7 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest.jpg, ''Le port de Trouville (Breakwater at Trouville, Low Tide)'', 1870, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest File:Claude Monet 002.jpg, ''La plage de Trouville'', 1870,
National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...
, London. The left figure may be Camille, on the right possibly the wife of
Eugène Boudin Eugène Louis Boudin (; 12 July 1824 – 8 August 1898) was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors. Boudin was a marine painter, and expert in the rendering of all that goes upon the sea and along its shores. His pastels, ...
, whose beach scenes influenced Monet. File:Houses on the Achterzaan MET DT719.jpg, ''
Houses on the Achterzaan ''Houses on the Achterzaan'' is an 1871 painting by French artist Claude Monet. Done in oil on canvas, the work depicts riverside garden houses on the west shore of the Achterzaan river in Zaandam, the Netherlands. He painted it from the dam in ...
'', 1871, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York File:Claude Monet - Jean Monet on his Hobby Horse.jpg, ''Jean Monet On His Hobby Horse'', 1872. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York File:Claude Monet - Springtime - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Springtime'' 1872,
Walters Art Museum The Walters Art Museum is a public art museum located in the Mount Vernon, Baltimore, Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. Founded and opened in 1934, it holds collections from the mid-19th century that were amassed substantially ...
File:Ships Riding on the Seine at Rouen by Claude Monet, 1872.jpg, ''Ships Riding on the Seine at Rouen'', 1872,
National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...
, Washington DC


Death of Camille and Vétheuil

In 1875, Monet returned to figure painting with ''
Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...
,'' after effectively abandoning it with ''The Luncheon''. His interest in the figure continued for the next four years—reaching its crest in 1877 and concluding altogether in 1890. In an "unusually revealing" letter to
Théodore Duret Théodore Duret (20 January 1838 – 16 January 1927) was a French journalist, author and art critic. He was one of the first advocates of Courbet, Manet, and the Impressionists. One of his best known works is ''Critique d'Avant Garde (Paris, ...
, Monet discussed his revitalised interest: "I am working like never before on a new endeavour figures in plein air, as I understand them. This is an old dream, one that has always obsessed me and that I would like to master once and for all. But it is all so difficult! I am working very hard, almost to the point of making myself ill". In 1876, Camille Monet became seriously ill.Milner, Frank (1991) ''Monet''. New York: Mallard Press. p. 16. . Their second son, Michel, was born in 1878, after which Camille's health deteriorated further. In the autumn of that year, they moved to the village of
Vétheuil Vétheuil () is a Communes of France, commune on the Seine, 60 kilometers northwest of Paris, France. Vétheuil is located in the arrondissement of Pontoise in the Val-d'Oise Departments of France, department. Personalities Impressionism, Impress ...
where they shared a house with the family of
Ernest Hoschedé (Jean Louis) Ernest Hoschedé (Paris, 18 December 1837 – 19 March 1891) was a French department store magnate in Paris. In 1878, Camille was diagnosed with
uterine cancer Uterine cancer, also known as womb cancer, includes two types of cancer that develop from the tissues of the uterus. Endometrial cancer forms from the lining of the uterus, and uterine sarcoma forms from the muscles or support tissue of the ute ...
. She died the next year. Her death, alongside financial difficulties—once having to leave his house to avoid creditors—afflicted Monet's career; Hoschedé had recently purchased several paintings but soon went bankrupt, leaving for Paris in hopes of regaining his fortune, as interest in the Impressionists dwindled. Monet made a study in oils of his dead wife. Many years later, he confessed to his friend
Georges Clemenceau Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who was Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A physician turned journalist, he played a central role in the poli ...
that his need to analyse colours was both a joy and a torment to him. He explained: "I one day found myself looking at my beloved wife's dead face and just systematically noting the colours according to an automatic reflex".
John Berger John Peter Berger ( ; 5 November 1926 – 2 January 2017) was an English art critic, novelist, painter and poet. His novel '' G.'' won the 1972 Booker Prize, and his essay on art criticism '' Ways of Seeing'', written as an accompaniment to t ...
describes the work as "a blizzard of white, grey, purplish paint ... a terrible blizzard of loss which will forever efface her features. In fact there can be very few death-bed paintings which have been so intensely felt or subjectively expressive." Monet's study of the Seine continued. He submitted two paintings to the Salon in 1880, one of which was accepted. He began to abandon Impressionist techniques as his paintings utilised darker tones and displayed environments, such as the Seine River, in harsh weather. For the rest of the decade, he focused on the elemental aspect of nature. The major event of the winter of 1881 was without any doubt that he again sold his paintings to Durand-Ruel. Because of Monet's continual difficulty in paying his rent, the landlady at Vétheuil refused to extend his tenancy, and in December 1881 Monet moved with Alice and her children to Poissy. In addition to the debts he had accumulated, there was also the problem of finding a suitable school for his son Jean. The stay in Poissy would not last very long. In December 1882 the Seine had overflowed its banks and there was a danger of flooding the Monet residence. His personal life influenced his distancing from the Impressionists. In January 1883 he returned to Étretat and expressed in letters to
Alice Hoschedé Alice Raingo Hoschedé Monet (February 19, 1844 – May 19, 1911) was the wife of department store magnate and art collector Ernest Hoschedé At this time Monet was afraid of losing Alice to her husband, who was suddenly speaking of taking her back. On February 21, Monet and Alice Hoschedé finally met again at Poissy, and there was no more doubt that she would now stay by his side. Alice's third daughter, Suzanne, would become Monet's "preferred model", after Camille. In April 1883 Monet informed Durand-Ruel that he was searching for a house around Vernon, a city he had frequently passed through while traveling between Paris and Normandy. On April 29 he moved into a rented house in Giverny near Vernon with some of his children, followed by Alice Hoschedé the day after. This house subsequently became the permanent home of the Monet family. That same year his first major retrospective show was held.


Bordighera and a turn to prosperity

In December 1883 Claude Monet and Auguste Renoir left Paris by train for a short painting trip to Italy, along the Italian Riviera and to Genoa. On the way back, Monet and Renoir stopped briefly at l´Estaque, near Marseille, to visit Cézanne, before returning to Giverny late December. During this trip Monet discovered the small town of Bordighera which he found particularly attractive: in a letter to Durand-Ruel on January 12, 1884, he described it as “one of the most beautiful places we saw on our trip” In the years leading up to 1883, Bordighera, with its mild climate and stunning coastal views, had become widely popular as a winter destination for tourists, particularly among the European elite as well as artists and intellectuals. One of the town's main attractions were the Moreno Gardens which, in tourist guidebooks of that time, were described not only as one of the most attractive and delightful locations of the Mediterranean, but also as some of the most beautiful and renowned gardens in Europe. Earlier in 1883 the famous architect Charles Garnier wrote a piece in a travel book called Artistic features of Bordighera. In the first chapter, he claims that “in truth, Bordighera is far less Italy than Palestine…” referring to the old town, the free growing palm trees and the exotic gardens. In his text Garnier recommends eight point of views which he finds most interesting for any artist to paint. Soon after his return to Giverny, Monet wrote to his art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel expressing his desire to go back to Italy and Bordighera for a longer stay. He put forward his desire to go on his own and asked Durand-Ruel not to mention his wish to anyone, especially not to Renoir. Monet initially intended to spend three weeks in the Ligurian town but ended up staying for a period of almost three months, from January 18 to April 5, during which he produced thirty-eight paintings with Bordighera motifs. Monet was deeply affected by the beauty of Bordighera and its surroundings, which he described as magic - a fairy tale country. The unique light and luxuriant vegetation presented themselves as a completely new challenge. In a letter to Alice Horschedé, he wrote “These palm trees are exasperating, and also the motifs are extremely difficult to render, to put down on canvas, everything is so lush”. During his sojourn in Bordighera Monet had initially intended to paint “orange and lemon trees against the blue sea” but he could not find any that really pleased him therefore he only produced one painting with a citrus tree motif, ''Under the Lemon Trees''. During his stay in Bordighera, Monet went to nearby Dolceaqua where he painted the bridge which he called “a little gem of elegance”. Some of the most notable compositions from his stay in Bordighera are ''View of Bordighera'', ''Olive Trees'', ''Villas at Bordighera'', ''The Moreno Garden'', ''Valley of Sasso'' and ''Dolceacqua''. The Bordighera paintings are not so well known to the public as some of his work. One explanation presented is that following the Paris Stock market crash of 1882 Monet's art dealer Durand-Ruels suffered a severe financial loss and consequently, he had to pawn several of Monet's Bordighera paintings as soon as he had received them. Monet, who had been eager to hear what critics would say about his latest work, was devastated when he found out that they would never be exhibited. Eventually, after Durand-Ruel left for the United States in 1886, Monet could only express his utter frustration by writing letters where he accused the dealer of being “only concerned with the United States while we (the Impressionists) are being forgotten in France”. Finally leaving Bordighera, Monet stopped in Menton to paint the Cap Martin and Monte Carlo before embarking on the 24 hour trip back to Giverny. In a letter sent to Monet in 1884,
Paul Durand-Ruel Paul Durand-Ruel (; 31 October 1831 – 5 February 1922) was a French art dealer associated with the Impressionists and the Barbizon School. Being the first to support artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, he ...
mentions Monet's financial worries, and tells him that both the stockbroker Theodore-Charles Gadala and Georges Clemenceau have purchased paintings. Monet's struggles with creditors ended following his prosperous trips; to Bordighera in 1884, and to the Netherlands in 1886 to paint the tulips. He soon met and became friends with
Gustave Geffroy Gustave Geffroy (; 1 June 1855 – 4 April 1926) was a French journalist, art critic, historian and novelist. He was one of the ten founding members of the literary organisation Académie Goncourt in 1900. Geffroy is noted as one of the first hi ...
, who published an article on Monet. Despite his qualms, Monet's paintings were sold in America and contributed towards his financial security. In contrast to the last two decades of his career, Monet favoured working alone—and felt that he was always better when he did, having regularly "long dfor solitude, away from crowded tourist resorts and sophisticated urban settings". Such a desire was recurrent in his letters to Alice. File:Effet de Brouillard by Claude Monet.jpg, ''Effet de Brouillard'', File:Claude Monet, 1873, Camille Monet on a Bench, oil on canvas, 60.6 x 80.3 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.jpg, ''Camille Monet on a Garden Bench'', 1873,
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
, New York File:Claude Monet - The Seine at Argenteuil 1873.jpg, ''The Seine at Argenteuil'', 1873 File:Claude Monet - The Artist's House at Argenteuil.jpg, ''The Artist's House at Argenteuil'', 1873,
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...
File:Claude Monet - Poppy Field - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Coquelicots, La promenade (Poppies)'', 1873,
Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...
, Paris File:Pont Argenteuil Monet 1.jpg, ''Argenteuil'', 1874,
National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...
, Washington D.C. File:Claude Monet The Studio Boat.jpg, ''The Studio Boat'', 1874,
Kröller-Müller Museum The Kröller-Müller Museum () is a national art museum and sculpture garden, located in the Hoge Veluwe National Park in Otterlo in the Netherlands. The museum, founded by art collector Helene Kröller-Müller within the extensive grounds of ...
, Otterlo, Netherlands File:Claude Monet Camille au métier.jpg, ''Camille au métier'', 1875,
Barnes collection The Barnes Foundation is an art collection and educational institution promoting the appreciation of art and horticulture. Originally in Merion, the art collection moved in 2012 to a new building on Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, ...
File:Claude Monet - Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son - Google Art Project.jpg, ''
Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...
'', 1875,
National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...
, Washington D.C. File:Claude Monet-Madame Monet en costume japonais.jpg, '' Madame Monet in a Japanese Kimono'', 1876, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston File:Claude Monet Le bateau atelier.jpg, '' Le Bateau-atelier'', 1876,
Barnes collection The Barnes Foundation is an art collection and educational institution promoting the appreciation of art and horticulture. Originally in Merion, the art collection moved in 2012 to a new building on Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, ...
File:Claude Monet - Flowered Riverbank, Argenteuil.jpg, ''Flowers on the Riverbank at Argenteuil'', 1877,
Pola Museum of Art is located in Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It opened in September 2002 within Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. It houses the collection of over 9,500 works acquired by the former head of the Pola cosmetics group, including many works of Fr ...
, Japan File:Monet - Vetheuil im Nebel.jpg, ''Vétheuil in the Fog'', 1879,
Musée Marmottan Monet Musée Marmottan Monet () is an art museum in Paris, France, dedicated to artist Claude Monet. The collection features over three hundred Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings by Claude Monet, including his 1872 ''Impression, Sunrise''. ...
, Paris File:The Thaw at Vétheuil - Monet - Thyssen Museum.jpg, ''The Thaw at Vétheuil'', 1880,
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum (, ; named after its founder, Baron Heinrich Thyssen, Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza), or simply the Thyssen, is an art museum in Madrid, Spain, located near the Museo del Prado, Prado Museum on one of the city ...
, Madrid File:La Falaise à Fécamp - Claude Monet - ABDAG003046.jpg, ''La Falaise à Fécamp'', 1881,
Aberdeen Art Gallery Aberdeen Art Gallery is the main visual arts exhibition space in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1884 in a building designed by Alexander Marshall Mackenzie, with a sculpture court added in 1905. In 1900, it received the art ...
File:Claude Monet 023.jpg, ''Study of a Figure Outdoors: Woman with a Parasol, Facing Left'', (
Suzanne Hoschedé Suzanne Hoschedé (April 29, 1868–February 6, 1899) was one of the daughters of Alice Hoschedé and Ernest Hoschedé, the stepdaughter and favorite model of French impressionist painter Claude Monet, and wife of American impressionist painte ...
), 1886,
Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...
File:Claude Monet - Villas at Bordighera - Google Art Project.jpg, Villas In Bordighera, 1884. Musée d´Orsay Paris File:View of Bordighera 1884 Chicago Art Institute.jpg, View of Bordighera, 1884.
Chicago Art Institute The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park. Its collection, stewarded by 11 curatoria ...
File:Moreno Garden Bordighera 1884 - The Norton Museum Miami Florida.jpg, Moreno Garden Bordighera, 1884. The Norton Museum, Miami. File:Olive trees study, 1884 - Claude Monet, Private Collection.jpg, Olive trees study Bordighera 1884. Private Collection.


Giverny

In 1883, Monet and his family rented a house and gardens in
Giverny Giverny () is a Communes of France, commune in the northern French Departments of France, department of Eure. The house was situated near the main road between the towns of Vernon and Gasny at Giverny. There was a barn that doubled as a painting studio, orchards and a small garden. The house was close enough to the local schools for the children to attend, and the surrounding landscape provided numerous natural areas for Monet to paint. Two days after his arrival at Giverny Monet received the news that Édouard Manet had died. As he had no money for the train fare to the funeral nor mourning attire, he was forced to petition Durand-Ruel for the necessary money. Besides Monet, among the other pallbearers were Philippe Burty, Théodore Duret, Antonin Proust and
Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, ; ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of Naturalism (literature), naturalism, and an important contributor to ...
. At Giverny the family worked and built up the gardens, and Monet's fortunes began to change for the better as Durand-Ruel had increasing success in selling his paintings. The gardens were Monet's greatest source of inspiration for 40 years. In 1890, Monet purchased the house. During the 1890s, Monet built a greenhouse and a second studio, a spacious building well lit with skylights. Monet wrote daily instructions to his gardener, precise designs and layouts for plantings, and invoices for his floral purchases and his collection of botany books. As Monet's wealth grew, his garden evolved. He remained its architect, even after he hired seven gardeners. Monet purchased additional land with a water meadow. White water lilies local to France were planted along with imported cultivars from South America and Egypt, resulting in a range of colours including yellow, blue and white lilies that turned pink with age.Art Gallery of Victoria
Monet's Garden
, (retrieved 16 December 2013) In 1902, he increased the size of his
water garden Water garden or aquatic garden, is a term sometimes used for gardens, or parts of gardens, where any type of water feature (particularly garden ponds) is a principal or dominant element. The primary focus is on plants, but they will sometimes ...
by nearly 4000 square metres; the pond was enlarged in 1901 and 1910 with
easel An easel is an upright support used for displaying and/or fixing something resting upon it, at an angle of about 20° to the vertical. In particular, painters traditionally use an easel to support a painting while they work on it, normally stan ...
s installed all around to allow different perspectives to be captured. Dissatisfied with the limitations of Impressionism, Monet began to work on series of paintings displaying single subjects—haystacks,
poplars ''Populus'' is a genus of 25–30 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. English names variously applied to different species include poplar (), aspen, and cottonwood. The we ...
and the
Rouen Cathedral Rouen Cathedral () is a Catholic church architecture, church in Rouen, Normandy, France. It is the Episcopal see, see of the Archbishop of Rouen, Primate of Normandy. It is famous for its three towers, each in a different style. The cathedral, b ...
—to resolve his frustration. These series of paintings provided widespread critical and financial success; in 1898, 61 paintings were exhibited at the Petit Gallery. He also began a series of ''Mornings on the Seine'', which portrayed the dawn hours of the river.'''' In 1887 and 1889 he displayed a series of paintings of Belle Île to rave reviews by critics. Monet chose the location in the hope of finding a "new aesthetic language that bypassed learned formulas, one that would be both true to nature and unique to him as an individual, not like anyone else."


London

Monet, who had already visited London in 1870-1871, made a first six-week stay in London in September 1899, accompanied by Alice and Germaine Hoschedé, with the aim of both painting and visiting his son Michel, had been living there since the spring. They stayed in a suite on the 6th floor of the prestigious
Savoy Hotel The Savoy Hotel is a luxury hotel located in the Strand in the City of Westminster in central London, England. Built by the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions, it opened on 6 August 1 ...
, which offered spectacular views of the Thames and south London. Wullschläger, pp. 350-355 Monet was invigorated by this visit, commenting, “I so love London! But I love it only in winter, for without the fog London wouldn’t be a beautiful city. It’s the fog that gives it its magnificent breadth.” During their stay the Monets and Alice in particular became friends with English hostess and patron of the arts Mary Hunter (1857-1933). She introduced the Monets to her social circle including her sister
Ethel Smyth Dame Ethel Mary Smyth (; 22 April 18588 May 1944) was an English composer and a member of the women's suffrage movement. Her compositions include songs, works for piano, chamber music, orchestral works, choral works and operas. Smyth tended ...
. He returned to the same hotel for two more stays, in February and March 1900 and from January to March 1901. The latter visit was ended by pleurisy, with him having to spend three weeks in his hotel room without being able to paint. During his stays, he painted Waterloo Bridge early in the morning at sunrise, then Charing Cross Bridge in the afternoon. It was during his second stay that he began to paint the Houses of Parliament, from
St Thomas' Hospital St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, together with Guy's Hospital, Evelina London Children's Hospital, Royal Brompton Hospita ...
in the late afternoon and at sunset. Through a doctor based at St Thomas, Mary Hunter had been able to facilitate Monets access to an suitable vantage point at the hospital. Into total Monet produced a series that included 41 paintings of
Waterloo bridge Waterloo Bridge () is a road and foot traffic bridge crossing the River Thames in London, between Blackfriars Bridge and Hungerford Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridges. Its name commemorates the victory of the British, Dutch and Prussians at the ...
, 34 of
Charing Cross bridge The Hungerford Bridge crosses the River Thames in London, and lies between Waterloo Bridge and Westminster Bridge. Owned by Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd (who use its official name of Charing Cross Bridge) it is a steel truss railway bridge ...
and 19 of the House of Parliament. The paintings continued to be retouched in the studio until 1904. The series ''Views of the Thames in London - 1900 to 1904'' was exhibited in May and June 1904.


Water lilies

In 1899, he began painting the water lilies that would occupy him continuously for the next 20 years of his life, being his last and "most ambitious" sequence of paintings. He had exhibited this first group of pictures of the garden, devoted primarily to his Japanese bridge, in 1900. Depictions of the water lilies, with alternating light and mirror-like reflections, became an integral part of his work. By the mid-1910s Monet had achieved "a completely new, fluid, and somewhat audacious style of painting in which the water-lily pond became the point of departure for an almost abstract art". Claude Roger-Marx noted in a review of Monet's successful 1909 exhibition of the first ''
Water Lilies ''Water Lilies'' ( ) is a series of approximately 250 oil paintings by French Impressionist Claude Monet (1840–1926). The paintings depict his flower garden at his home in Giverny, and were the main focus of his artistic production during ...
'' series that he had "reached the ultimate degree of abstraction and imagination joined to the real". This exhibition, entitled ''Waterlilies, a Series of Waterscape,'' consisted of 42 canvases, his "largest and most unified series to date"''.'' He would ultimately make over 250 paintings of the ''Waterlilies''. At his house, Monet met with artists, writers, intellectuals and politicians from France, England, Japan and the United States. In the summer of 1887, he met
John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 15, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era, Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil ...
whose experimentation with figure painting out of doors intrigued him; the pair went on to frequently influence each other. File:Monet - Im Garten - 1895.jpeg, ''In the Garden'', 1895, Collection E. G. Buehrle, Zürich File:1914-26 Claude Monet Agapanthus MOMA NY anagoria.JPG, ''Agapanthus'', between 1914 and 1926,
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
, New York File:Claude Monet - Flowering Arches, Giverny.JPG, ''Flowering Arches, Giverny'', 1913,
Phoenix Art Museum The Phoenix Art Museum is the largest art museum, museum for visual art in the southwest United States. Located in Phoenix, Arizona, the museum is . It displays international exhibitions alongside its comprehensive collection of more than 18,0 ...
File:Water-Lilies-and-Japanese-Bridge-(1897-1899)-Monet.jpg, ''Water Lilies and the Japanese Bridge'', 1897–1899,
Princeton University Art Museum The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is the Princeton University gallery of art, located in Princeton, New Jersey. With a collecting history that began in 1755, the museum was formally established in 1882, and now houses over 117,000 work ...
File:Monet - Seerosen 1906.jpg, ''Water Lilies'', 1906,
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...
File:Monet - Seerosen6.jpg, ''Water Lilies'',
Musée Marmottan Monet Musée Marmottan Monet () is an art museum in Paris, France, dedicated to artist Claude Monet. The collection features over three hundred Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings by Claude Monet, including his 1872 ''Impression, Sunrise''. ...
File:Nympheas 71293 3.jpg, ''Water Lilies'', 1915,
Neue Pinakothek The Neue Pinakothek (, ''New Pinacotheca'') is an art museum in Munich, Germany. Its focus is European Art of the 18th and 19th centuries, and it is one of the most important museums of art of the nineteenth century in the world. Together with t ...
, Munich File:Monet - Seerosen5.jpg, ''Water Lilies'', ,
Musée Marmottan Monet Musée Marmottan Monet () is an art museum in Paris, France, dedicated to artist Claude Monet. The collection features over three hundred Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings by Claude Monet, including his 1872 ''Impression, Sunrise''. ...


Venice

In the autumn of 1908 Alice took up the offer made by her friend Mary Hunter for the Monets to stay with her in the Palazzo Barbaro in Venice which she had rented for the season.Wullschläger, pp. 379-384 Initially Monet was not keen on visiting Venice as Alice recorded in a letter to her daughter Germaine, “Monet very sad … to leave, he can’t bring himself to give up his pond and his flowers. I’ve heard this so much that, really, it spoils the pleasure of the journey.” The Monets arrived in
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
on 1 October. The Monets stayed with Hunter for the last two weeks on her tenancy before the couple relocated to the Hotel Britannia, which was chosen for its views. Initially Monet only tentatively began painting images of the city but Alice was of the opinion expressed in a letter to Germaine, that Venice “is so beautiful and so created to tempt you, but who can render those marvelous effects. I see only my Monet who can do it.” Monet was soon enchanted, writing, “what misfortune not to have come here when I was younger, when I had all the boldness. Still… I’ve spent delicious moments here, almost forgetting that I was the old man I am.” Each day the couple will slip out by gondola before eight in the morning to explore and paint the city, which after a break for lunch would continue until seven. As they stayed longer and the days became colder Alice hunted for warm clothing to allow Monet to continue painting outside and even managed to obtain a fur coat for him from the young artist Louis Aston Knight. Their three-month stay resulted in Monet painting 37 works of Venice, most a series of artworks on the same motif at different times of the day. including the '' Le Grand Canal'' and five more depicting the same theme, as well as '' The Doge's Palace Seen from San Giorgio Maggiore'', and ''
San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk ''Saint-Georges majeur au crépuscule'' (Eng: ''Dusk in Venice'', ''San Giorgio Maggiore by Twilight'' or ''Sunset in Venice'') refers to an Impressionist painting by Claude Monet, which exists in more than one version. It forms part of a serie ...
.'' On the way home in December the couple broke their journey for what turned into a four day stay with Renoir at Cagnes. Once back in Giverny and while not finished Monet sold all of his Venice paintings on 12 December 1908 to the
Bernheim-Jeune Bernheim-Jeune gallery is one of the oldest art galleries in Paris. Opened on Rue Laffitte in 1863 by Alexandre Bernheim (1839-1915), friend of Delacroix, Corot and Courbet, it changed location a few times before settling on Avenue Matignon. ...
brothers for 12,000 francs each.


Failing sight

Monet's second wife, Alice, died in 1911, and his oldest son, Jean, who had married Alice's daughter, Blanche, Monet's particular favourite, died in 1914.Biography for Claude Monet
Guggenheim Collection. Retrieved 6 January 2007. Their deaths left Monet depressed, as Blanche cared for him. It was during this time that Monet began to develop the first signs of possible
cataract A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens (anatomy), lens of the eye that leads to a visual impairment, decrease in vision of the eye. Cataracts often develop slowly and can affect one or both eyes. Symptoms may include faded colours, blurry or ...
s.Forge, Andrew, and Gordon, Robert, ''Monet'', page 224. Harry N. Abrams, 1989. In 1913, Monet travelled to London to consult the German ophthalmologist
Richard Liebreich Richard Liebreich (30 June 1830 – 19 January 1917) was a German ophthalmologist and physiologist who was a native of Königsberg. He was of Jewish ancestry. In 1853 he earned his doctorate at Halle, and from 1854 until 1862 was an assistant to ...
. He was prescribed new glasses and rejected cataract surgery for the right eye. The next year, Monet, encouraged by Clemenceau, made plans to construct a new, large studio that he could use to create a "decorative cycle of paintings devoted to the water garden". In the following years, his perception of colour suffered; his broad strokes were broader and his paintings were increasingly darker. To achieve his desired outcome, he began to label his tubes of paint, kept a strict order on his palette and wore a straw hat to negate
glare Glare may refer to: * Glare (vision), difficulty seeing in the presence of very bright light * Glaring, a facial expression of squinted eyes and look of contempt * A call collision in telecommunications * GLARE, Glass reinforced aluminium, an ...
. He approached painting by formulating the ideas and features in his mind, taking the "motif in large masses" and transcribing them through memory and imagination. This was due to him being "insensitive" to the "finer shades of tonalities and colors seen close up". Monet's output decreased as he became withdrawn, although he did produce several
panel painting A panel painting is a painting made on a flat panel of wood, either a single piece or a number of pieces joined together. Until canvas became the more popular support medium in the 16th century, panel painting was the normal method, when not pain ...
s for the
French Government The Government of France (, ), officially the Government of the French Republic (, ), exercises Executive (government), executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister of France, prime minister, who is the head of government, ...
, from 1914 to 1918 to great financial success and he would later create works for the state. His work on the "cycle of paintings" mostly occurred around 1916 to 1921. Cataract surgery was once again recommended, this time by Clemenceau. Monet—who was apprehensive, following
Honoré Daumier Honoré-Victorin Daumier (; February 26, 1808 – February 10 or 11, 1879) was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, whose many works offer commentary on the social and political life in France, from the July Revolution, Revolution of 1830 ...
and
Mary Cassatt Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side (Pittsburgh), North Side), but lived much of her adult life in France, whe ...
's botched surgeries—stated that he would rather have poor sight and perhaps abandon painting than forego "a little of these things that I love". In 1919, Monet began a series of landscape paintings, "in full force" although he was not pleased with the outcome. By October, the weather caused Monet to cease plein air painting and the next month he sold four of the eleven ''Water Lilies'' paintings, despite his then-reluctance to relinquish his work. The series inspired praise from his peers; his later works were well received by dealers and collectors, and he received 200,000 francs from one collector. In 1922 a prescription of mydriatics provided short-lived relief. He eventually underwent
cataract surgery Cataract surgery, also called lens replacement surgery, is the removal of the natural lens (anatomy), lens of the human eye, eye that has developed a cataract, an opaque or cloudy area. The eye's natural lens is usually replaced with an artific ...
in 1923. Persistent
cyanopsia Cyanopsia is a rare visual phenomenon characterized by a blue tint to vision. Most commonly associated with cataract surgery and certain medications, such as sildenafil (more commonly known as Viagra), cyanopsia is typically a temporary side eff ...
and aphakic
spectacles Glasses, also known as eyeglasses (American English), spectacles (Commonwealth English), or colloquially as specs, are Visual perception, vision eyewear with clear or tinted lens (optics), lenses mounted in a frame that holds them in front ...
proved to be a struggle. Now "able to see the real colours", he began to destroy canvases from his pre-operative period. Upon receiving tinted
Zeiss Zeiss or Zeiß may refer to: People *Carl Zeiss (1816–1888), German optician and entrepreneur *Emil Zeiß (1833–1910), German Protestant minister and painter * Juan Pablo Zeiss (born 1989), Argentine rugby union player * Mary Zeiss Sta ...
lenses, Monet was laudatory, although his left eye soon had to be entirely covered by a black lens. By 1925, his visual impairment was improved and he began to retouch some of his pre-operative works, with bluer water lilies than before. During
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, in which his younger son, Michel, served, Monet painted a ''
Weeping Willow ''Salix babylonica'' (Babylon willow or weeping willow; ) is a species of willow native to dry areas of northern China, Korea, Mongolia, Japan, and Siberia but cultivated for millennia elsewhere in Asia, being traded along the Silk Road to southw ...
'' series as homage to the French fallen soldiers. He became deeply dedicated to the decorations of his garden during the war. File:Nymphéas reflets de saule 1916-19.jpg, ''
Water Lilies ''Water Lilies'' ( ) is a series of approximately 250 oil paintings by French Impressionist Claude Monet (1840–1926). The paintings depict his flower garden at his home in Giverny, and were the main focus of his artistic production during ...
and Reflections of a Willow'' (1916–1919),
Musée Marmottan Monet Musée Marmottan Monet () is an art museum in Paris, France, dedicated to artist Claude Monet. The collection features over three hundred Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings by Claude Monet, including his 1872 ''Impression, Sunrise''. ...
File:Claude Monet, Water-Lily Pond and Weeping Willow.JPG, ''Water-Lily Pond and Weeping Willow'', 1916–1919, Sale Christie's New York, 1998 File:Claude Monet, Weeping Willow.JPG, ''
Weeping Willow ''Salix babylonica'' (Babylon willow or weeping willow; ) is a species of willow native to dry areas of northern China, Korea, Mongolia, Japan, and Siberia but cultivated for millennia elsewhere in Asia, being traded along the Silk Road to southw ...
'', 1918,
Columbus Museum of Art The Columbus Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Formed in 1878 as the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts (its name until 1978), it was the first art museum to register its charter with the state of Ohio. The museum collec ...
File:Claude Monet Weeping Willow.jpg, ''Weeping Willow'', 1918–19,
Kimball Art Museum The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, hosts an art collection as well as traveling art exhibitions, educational programs and an extensive research library. Its initial artwork came from the private collection of Kay and Velma Kimbell, w ...
,
Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...
, Monet's ''Weeping Willow'' paintings were an homage to the fallen French soldiers of World War I File:Monet - Das Haus in den Rosen.jpeg, ''House Among the Roses'', between 1917 and 1919,
Albertina The Albertina is a museum in the Innere Stadt (First District) of Vienna, Austria. It houses one of the largest and most important print rooms in the world with approximately 65,000 drawings and approximately 1 million old master prints, as well ...
, Vienna File:Monet- Der Rosenweg in Giverny.jpeg, ''The Rose Walk, Giverny'', 1920–1922,
Musée Marmottan Monet Musée Marmottan Monet () is an art museum in Paris, France, dedicated to artist Claude Monet. The collection features over three hundred Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings by Claude Monet, including his 1872 ''Impression, Sunrise''. ...
File:1920-22 Claude Monet The Japanese Footbridge MOMA NY anagoria.JPG, ''The Japanese Footbridge'', 1920–1922,
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
File:Claude Monet - Wisteria - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Wisteria'', 1920–1925,
Kunstmuseum Den Haag The Kunstmuseum Den Haag is an art museum in The Hague in the Netherlands, founded in 1866 as the Museum voor Moderne Kunst. Later, until 1998, it was known as Haags Gemeentemuseum, and until the end of September 2019 as Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. I ...


Method

Monet has been described as "the driving force behind Impressionism". Crucial to the art of the Impressionist painters was the understanding of the effects of light on the local colour of objects, and the effects of the juxtaposition of colours with each other. His free flowing style and use of colour have been described as "almost ethereal" and the " pitomeof impressionist style"; ''Impression, Sunrise'' is an example of the "fundamental" Impressionist principle of depicting only that which is purely visible. Monet was fascinated with the effects of light, and painting
en plein air ''En plein air'' (; French language, French for 'outdoors'), or plein-air painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein ai ...
—he believed that his only "merit lies in having painted directly in front of nature, seeking to render my impressions of the most fleeting effects" Wanting to "paint the air", he often combined modern life subjects in outdoor light. Monet made light the central focus of his paintings. To capture its variations, he would sometimes complete a painting in one sitting, often without preparation. He wished to demonstrate how light altered colour and perception of reality. His interest in light and reflection began in the late 1860s and lasted throughout his career. During his first time in London, he developed an admiration for the relationship between the artist and motifs—for what he deemed the "envelope". He utilised pencil drawings to quickly note subjects and motifs for future reference. Monet's portrayal of landscapes emphasised industrial elements such as railways and factories; his early seascapes featured brooding nature depicted with muted colours and local residents. Critic, and friend of Monet,
Théodore Duret Théodore Duret (20 January 1838 – 16 January 1927) was a French journalist, author and art critic. He was one of the first advocates of Courbet, Manet, and the Impressionists. One of his best known works is ''Critique d'Avant Garde (Paris, ...
noted, in 1874, that he was "little attracted by rustic scenes...He eltparticularly drawn towards nature when it is embellished and towards urban scenes and for preference he paint dflowery gardens, parks and groves." When depicting figures and landscapes in tandem, Monet wished for the landscape to not be a mere backdrop and the figures not to dominate the composition. His dedication to such a portrayal of landscapes resulted in Monet reprimanding Renoir for defying it. He often depicted the suburban and rural leisure activities of Paris and as a young artist experimented with
still life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, human-m ...
s. From the 1870s onwards, he gradually moved away from suburban and urban landscapes—when they were depicted it was to further his study of light. Contemporary critics—and later academics—felt that with his choice of showcasing Belle Île, he had indicated a desire to move away from the modern culture of Impressionist paintings and instead towards primitive nature. After meeting Boudin, Monet dedicated himself to searching for new and improved methods of painterly expression. To this end, as a young man, he visited the Salon and familiarised himself with the works of older painters, and made friends with other young artists. The five years that he spent at
Argenteuil Argenteuil () is a Communes of France, commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. Argenteuil is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise Departments of France, ...
, spending much time on the River Seine in a little floating studio, were formative in his study of the effects of light and reflections. He began to think in terms of colours and shapes rather than scenes and objects. He used bright colours in dabs and dashes and squiggles of paint. Having rejected the academic teachings of Gleyre's studio, he freed himself from theory, saying "I like to paint as a bird sings." Boudin, Daubigny, Jongkind, Courbet, and Corot were among Monet's influences and he would often work in accordance with developments in
avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
art. In 1877 a series of paintings at St-Lazare Station had Monet looking at smoke and steam and the way that they affected colour and visibility, being sometimes
opaque Opacity is the measure of impenetrability to electromagnetic or other kinds of radiation, especially visible light. In radiative transfer, it describes the absorption and scattering of radiation in a medium, such as a plasma, dielectric, shie ...
and sometimes
translucent In the field of optics, transparency (also called pellucidity or diaphaneity) is the physical property of allowing light to pass through the material without appreciable light scattering by particles, scattering of light. On a macroscopic scale ...
. He was to further use this study in the painting of the effects of mist and rain on the landscape. The study of the effects of atmosphere was to evolve into a number of series of paintings in which Monet repeatedly painted the same subject (such as his water lilies series) in different lights, at different hours of the day, and through the changes of weather and season. This process began in the 1880s and continued until the end of his life in 1926. In his later career, Monet "transcended" the Impressionist style and begun to push the boundaries of art. Monet refined his palette in the 1870s, consciously minimising the use of darker tones and favouring pastel colours. This coincided with his softer approach, using smaller and more varied brush strokes. His palette would again undergo change in the 1880s, with more emphasis than before on harmony between warm and cold
hue In color theory, hue is one of the properties (called color appearance parameters) of a color, defined in the CIECAM02 model as "the degree to which a stimulus can be described as similar to or different from stimuli that are described as ...
s. Following his optical operation in 1923, Monet returned to his style from before a decade ago. He forwent garish colours or "coarse application" for emphasised colour schemes of blue and green. Whilst suffering from cataracts, his paintings were more broad and abstract—from the late 1880s onwards, he had simplified his compositions and sought subjects that could offer broad colour and tone. He increasingly used red and yellow tones, a trend that first started following his trip to Venice. Monet often travelled alone at this time—from France to Normandy to London; to the
Rivera Rivera () is the capital of Rivera Department of Uruguay. The border with Brazil joins it with the Brazilian city of Santana do Livramento, which is only a block away from it, at the north end of Route 5 (Uruguay), Route 5. Together, they form an ...
and
Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...
—in search of new and more challenging subjects.The stylistic change was likely a by-product of the disorder and not an intentional choice. Monet would often work on large canvases due to the deterioration of his eyesight and by 1920 he admitted that he had grown too accustomed to broad painting to return to small canvases. The influence of his cataracts on his output has been a topic of discussion among academics; Lane et al. (1997) argues the occurrence of a deterioration from the late 1860s onwards led to a diminishing of sharp lines. Gardens were a focus throughout his art, becoming prominent in his later work, especially during the last decade of his life.
Daniel Wildenstein Daniel Leopold Wildenstein (11 September 1917 – 23 October 2001) was a French art dealer, historian and owner-breeder of thoroughbred and standardbred race horses. He was the third member of the family to preside over Wildenstein & Co., one of ...
noted a "seamless" continuity in his paintings that was "enriched by innovation". From the 1880s onwards—and particularly in the 1890s—Monet's series of paintings of specific subjects sought to document the different conditions of light and weather. As light and weather changed throughout the day, he switched between canvases—sometimes working on as many as eight at one time—usually spending an hour on each. In 1895, he exhibited 20 paintings of ''
Rouen Cathedral Rouen Cathedral () is a Catholic church architecture, church in Rouen, Normandy, France. It is the Episcopal see, see of the Archbishop of Rouen, Primate of Normandy. It is famous for its three towers, each in a different style. The cathedral, b ...
,'' showcasing the
façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...
in different conditions of light, weather and atmosphere. The paintings do not focus on the grand Medieval building, but on the play of light and shade across its surface, transforming the solid masonry. For this series, he experimented with creating his own frames. His first series exhibited was of haystacks, painted from different points of view and at different times of the day. Fifteen of the paintings were exhibited at the
Galerie Durand-Ruel Paul Durand-Ruel (; 31 October 1831 – 5 February 1922) was a French art dealer associated with the Impressionists and the Barbizon School. Being the first to support artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, he ...
in 1891. In 1892 he produced twenty-six views of ''
Rouen Cathedral Rouen Cathedral () is a Catholic church architecture, church in Rouen, Normandy, France. It is the Episcopal see, see of the Archbishop of Rouen, Primate of Normandy. It is famous for its three towers, each in a different style. The cathedral, b ...
''. Between 1883 and 1908, Monet travelled to the
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
, where he painted landmarks, landscapes, and seascapes, including a series of paintings in
Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
. In London he painted four series: ''the Houses of Parliament, London'', ''
Charing Cross Bridge The Hungerford Bridge crosses the River Thames in London, and lies between Waterloo Bridge and Westminster Bridge. Owned by Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd (who use its official name of Charing Cross Bridge) it is a steel truss railway bridge ...
'', ''Waterloo Bridge'', and ''Views of Westminster Bridge''. Helen Gardner writes: File:La Gare Saint-Lazare - Claude Monet.jpg, ''La Gare Saint-Lazare'', 1877,
Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...
File:Claude Monet - Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare - Google Art Project.jpg, '' Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare'', 1877,
The Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park. Its collection, stewarded by 11 curatoria ...
, a part of Monet's ''
Gare Saint-Lazare The Gare Saint-Lazare (; ), officially Paris Saint Lazare, is one of the seven large mainline List of Paris railway stations, railway station terminals in Paris, France. It was the first railway station built in Paris, opening in 1837. It mostly ...
'' series. File:Claude Monet The Cliffs at Etretat.jpg, ''The Cliffs at Etretat'', 1885,
Clark Art Institute The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, commonly referred to as the Clark, is an art museum and research institution located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. Its collection consists of European ...
File:Monet - Segelboote hinter der Nadel bei Eretat 1885.jpg, ''Sailboats behind the needle at Etretat'', 1885 File:Scogli a Belle-Île.jpg, '' The Pyramides at Port-Coton, Rough Sea'', 1886,
Pushkin Museum The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (, abbreviated as , ''GMII'') is the largest museum of European art in Moscow. It is located in Volkhonka street, just opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The International musical festival Sviatos ...
,
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
File:Claude Monet - Les Pyramides de Port-Coton, effet de soleil.jpg, ''The Pyramides at Port-Coton, Sun Effect'', 1886, Private collection File:Claude Monet, Grainstacks in the Sunlight, Morning Effect, 1890, oil on canvas 65 x 100 cm.jpg, Two paintings from a series of grainstacks, 1890–91: ''Grainstacks in the Sunlight, Morning Effect'' File:1270 Wheatstacks, 1890-91, 65.8 x 101 cm, 25 7-8 x 39 3-4 in, The Art Institute of Chicago.jpg, ''Grainstacks, end of day, Autumn'', 1890–1891,
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...
File:Monet-fondazione-magnani-rocca.png, Falaise a Pourville soleil levant, 1897,
Magnani-Rocca Foundation The Magnani-Rocca Foundation is a private collection of old masters and modern art, gathered by the art collector and critic Luigi Magnani. He established the foundation in 1978 honour of his father Giuseppe and his mother Eugenia Rocca to prom ...
File:Falaise à Pourville (1896) Claude Monet (W 1421).jpg, Falaise a Pourville soleil levant, 1897, private collection File:Claude Monet - Les Peupliers.jpg, '' Poplars (Autumn)'', 1891,
Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...
File:Monet Poplars on the River Epte.jpg, '' Poplars at the River Epte'', 1891
Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...
, London File:Claude Monet - Rouen Cathedral, Facade (Sunset).JPG, ''Rouen Cathedral at sunset'', 1893, Musée Marmottan Monet File:Getty monet rouen cathedral.jpg, Rouen Cathedral, ''Morning Light'', 1894,
J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California, United States, housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. It is operated by the J. Paul Getty Trust, the world's wealthies ...
File:Claude Monet - Branch of the Seine near Giverny.JPG, ''The Seine Near Giverny'', 1897,
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the list of largest art museums, 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 painting ...
File:Claude Monet - Morning on the Seine - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Morning on the Seine'', 1898,
National Museum of Western Art The is the premier public art gallery in Japan specializing in art from the Western tradition. The museum is in the Ueno Park in Taitō, central Tokyo. It received 1,162,345 visitors in 2016. History The NMWA was established on June 10, 1959 ...
, Tokyo File:Charing Cross Bridge, Monet.jpg, ''Charing Cross Bridge'', 1899,
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum (, ; named after its founder, Baron Heinrich Thyssen, Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza), or simply the Thyssen, is an art museum in Madrid, Spain, located near the Museo del Prado, Prado Museum on one of the city ...
, Madrid File:Claude Monet - Charing Cross Bridge (Saint Louis).jpg, ''Charing Cross Bridge, London'', 1899–1901,
Saint Louis Art Museum The Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) is an art museum located in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. With paintings, sculptures, cultural objects, and ancient masterpieces from around the world, its three-story building stands in Forest Park in ...
File:Claude Monet, Houses of Parliament, London, 1900-1903, 1933.1164, Art Institute of Chicago.jpg, Two paintings from a series of '' The Houses of Parliament, London'', 1900–01,
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...
File:London, the Houses of Parliament, Sunlight Opening in Fog, by Claude Monet.jpg, ''London, Houses of Parliament. The Sun Shining through the Fog'', 1904,
Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...
File:Claude Monet, Le Grand Canal.jpg, ''Grand Canal, Venice'', 1908, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston File:Monet Grand Canal Legion of Honor.jpg, ''Grand Canal, Venice'', 1908,
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. FAMSF's combined attendance was 1,1 ...
File:Claude Monet, Saint-Georges majeur au crépuscule.jpg, ''
San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk ''Saint-Georges majeur au crépuscule'' (Eng: ''Dusk in Venice'', ''San Giorgio Maggiore by Twilight'' or ''Sunset in Venice'') refers to an Impressionist painting by Claude Monet, which exists in more than one version. It forms part of a serie ...
'', 1908,
National Museum Cardiff National Museum Cardiff (), formerly known as the National Museum of Wales, is a museum and art gallery in Cardiff, Wales. The museum is part of the wider network of Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales. Entry is kept free by a grant from the Wel ...
,
Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
File:Monet, Claude - The Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice - Google Art Project.jpg, ''
San Giorgio Maggiore San Giorgio Maggiore () is one of the islands of Venice, northern Italy, lying east of the Giudecca and south of the main island group. The island, or more specifically its Palladian church, is an important landmark. It has been much painted, ...
'', 1908,
Indianapolis Museum of Art The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located at Newfields, a campus that also houses Lilly House, The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park, the Garden at Newfields and more. It is located at the corner of No ...


Water lilies

Following his return from London, Monet painted mostly from nature, in his own garden; its water lilies, its pond and its bridge. From 22 November to 15 December 1900, another exhibition dedicated to him was held at the Durand-Ruel gallery, with around ten versions of the ''Water Lilies'' exhibited. This same exhibition was organized in February 1901 in New York City, where it was met with great success. In 1901, Monet enlarged the pond of his home by buying a meadow located on the other side of the Ru, the local watercourse. He then divided his time between work on nature and work in his studio. The canvases dedicated to the water lilies evolved with the changes made to his garden. In addition, around 1905, Monet gradually modified his aesthetics by abandoning the perimeter of the body of water and therefore modifying his perspective. He also changed the shape and size of his canvases by moving from rectangular stretchers to square and then circular stretchers. These canvases were created with great difficulty: Monet spent a significant amount of time reworking them in order to find the perfect effects and impressions. When he deemed them unsuccessful he did not hesitate to destroy them. He continually postponed the Durand-Ruel exhibition until he was satisfied with the works. After several postponements dating back to 1906, the exhibition titled ''Les Nymphéas'' opened on 6 May 1909. Comprising forty-eight paintings dating from 1903 to 1908, representing a series of landscapes and water lily scenes, the exhibition was again a success. File:Le bassin aux nymphéas - Claude Monet.jpg, , 1919. Monet's late series of water lily paintings are among his best-known works. File:WLA metmuseum Water Lilies by Claude Monet.jpg, ''Water Lilies'', 1919,
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
, New York File:Claude Monet - Water Lilies, 1917-1919.JPG, ''
Water Lilies ''Water Lilies'' ( ) is a series of approximately 250 oil paintings by French Impressionist Claude Monet (1840–1926). The paintings depict his flower garden at his home in Giverny, and were the main focus of his artistic production during ...
'', 1917–1919,
Honolulu Museum of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. It has one of the largest single co ...
File:Claude Monet 044.jpg, ''Water Lilies'', 1920,
National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...
, London File:Claude Monet, Water Lilies, ca. 1915-1926.jpg, ''Water Lilies'', ,
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art gallery, art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri, known for its encyclopedic collection of art from nearly every continent and culture, and especially for its extensive collection of A ...
, Kansas City, Missouri File:Claude Monet - Reflections of Clouds on the Water-Lily Pond.jpg, ''Reflections of Clouds on the Water-Lily Pond'', ,
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
, New York


Death

Monet died of
lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...
on 5 December 1926 at the age of 86 and is buried in the Giverny church cemetery. Monet had insisted that the occasion be simple; thus, only about fifty people attended the ceremony. At his funeral, Clemenceau removed the black cloth draped over the coffin, stating: "No black for Monet!" and replaced it with a flower-patterned cloth. At the time of his death, ''Waterlilies'' was "technically unfinished". Monet's home, garden, and water lily pond were bequeathed by Michel to the French Academy of Fine Arts (part of the
Institut de France The ; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the . It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute manages approximately ...
) in 1966. Through the Fondation Claude Monet, the house and gardens were opened for visits in 1980, following restoration. In addition to souvenirs of Monet and other objects of his life, the house contains his collection of Japanese woodcut prints, which had a pronounced influence on his art. The house and garden, along with the Museum of Impressionism, are major attractions in Giverny, which hosts tourists from all over the world.


Legacy

Speaking of Monet's body of work, Wildenstein said that it is "so extensive that its very ambition and diversity challenges our understanding of its importance". His paintings produced at Giverny and under the influence of cataracts have been said to create a link between Impressionism and
twentieth-century art Twentieth-century art—and what it became as modern art—began with modernism in the late nineteenth century. Overview Nineteenth-century movements of Post-Impressionism (), Art Nouveau and Symbolism led to the first twentieth-century art mov ...
and modern
abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a Composition (visual arts), composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. ''Abstract art'', ''non-figurative art'', ''non- ...
, respectively. His later works were a "major" inspiration to
Objective abstraction Objective abstraction was a British art group or movement c. 1933–1936, taking its name from the "Objective Abstractions" exhibition of 1934. It is a misnomer in the sense that a minority of the artists in the exhibition were at that time engaged ...
.
Ellsworth Kelly Ellsworth Kelly (May 31, 1923 – December 27, 2015) was an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker associated with hard-edge painting, Color field painting and minimalism. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques emphasizing line, col ...
, following a formative experience at Giverny, paid homage to Monet's works created there with ''Tableau Vert'' (1952). Monet has been called an "intermediary" between tradition and
modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
—his work has been examined in relation to
postmodernism Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, Culture, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting ...
and influenced Bazille, Sisley, Renoir, and Pissarro. Monet is now the most famous of the Impressionists; as a result of his contributions to the movement, he "exerted a huge influence on late 19th-century art". In May 1927, 27 panel paintings were displayed in the
Musée de l'Orangerie The Musée de l'Orangerie () is an art gallery of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings located in the west corner of the Tuileries Garden next to the Place de la Concorde in Paris. The museum is most famous as the permanent home of ...
, following lengthy negotiations with the French government. Because his later works were ignored by artists, art historians, critics, and the public, few attended the showing. In the 1950s, Monet's later works were "rediscovered" by the
Abstract Expressionists Abstract expressionism in the United States emerged as a distinct art movement in the aftermath of World War II and gained mainstream acceptance in the 1950s, a shift from the American social realism of the 1930s influenced by the Great Depressi ...
, who used similar canvases and were uninterested in the blunt and ideological art of the war. A 1952 essay by
André Masson André-Aimé-René Masson (; 4 January 1896 – 28 October 1987) was a French artist. Biography Masson was born in Balagny-sur-Thérain, Oise, but when he was eight his father's work took the family first briefly to Lille and then to Brus ...
helped change the perception of the paintings and inspired an appreciation that began to take shape in 1956–1957. The next year, a fire in the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
would see the ''Water Lilies'' paintings it had acquired burn. The large-scale nature of Monet's later paintings proved to be difficult for some museums, which resulted in their altering the framing. In 1978, Monet's garden in Giverny—which had grown decrepit over fifty years—was restored and opened to the public. In 2004, '' London, the Parliament, Effects of Sun in the Fog'' (''Londres, le Parlement, trouée de soleil dans le brouillard''; 1904), sold for US$20.1 million. In 2006, the journal ''
Proceedings of the Royal Society ''Proceedings of the Royal Society'' is the main research journal of the Royal Society. The journal began in 1831 and was split into two series in 1905: * Series A: for papers in physical sciences and mathematics. * Series B: for papers in life s ...
'' published a paper providing evidence that these were painted in situ at St. Thomas' Hospital over the river
Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...
. In 1981,
Ronald Pickvance Ronald Pickvance (August 15, 1930, in Bolton – March 21, 2017, in Cheltenham) was a British art historian. His specialty was French art of the late 19th century. Pickvance studied art history at the University of Cambridge until 1953 and then m ...
noted that Monet's works after 1880 were increasingly receiving scholarly attention. ''Falaises près de Dieppe'' (''Cliffs Near Dieppe'') has been stolen on two occasions, once in 1998 (in which the museum's curator was convicted of the theft and jailed for five years and two months, along with two accomplices) and again in August 2007. It was recovered in June 2008. On 14 November 2001, a
Google Doodle Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running annual Bu ...
was made for Claude Monet's 161st birthday, depicting the Google logo in Monet's signature style. It was the first Google Doodle made for someone's birthday. Monet's ''Le Pont du chemin de fer à Argenteuil'', an 1873 painting of a
railway bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somet ...
spanning the
Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...
near Paris, was bought by an anonymous telephone bidder for a record $41.4 million at
Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...
auction in New York on 6 May 2008. The previous record for a Monet painting stood at $36.5 million. A few weeks later, ''
Le bassin aux nymphéas (''Water Lily Pond''; 1919) is one of the series of ''Water Lilies'' paintings by French Impressionism, impressionist artist Claude Monet. Exhibited *Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Monet, January - February 1921, no. 44 or 45. *Pittsburgh, Carn ...
'' (from the water lilies series) sold at Christie's 24 June 2008 auction in London for £40,921,250 ($80,451,178), nearly doubling the record for the artist. This purchase represented one of the top 20 highest prices paid for a painting at the time. In October 2013, Monet's paintings ''L'Eglise de Vétheuil'' and ''Le Bassin aux Nympheas'' became subjects of a legal case in New York against New York-based Vilma Bautista, one-time aide to
Imelda Marcos Imelda Romualdez Marcos (; born Imelda Remedios Visitación Trinidad Romuáldez; July 2, 1929) is a Filipino politician who was First Lady of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, wielding significant political power after her husband Ferdinand ...
, wife of dictator
Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...
,Ex-Imelda Marcos aide on trial in NYC for selling Monet work
. Associated Press. 17 October 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2013. after she sold ''Le Bassin aux Nympheas'' for $32 million to a Swiss buyer. The said Monet paintings, along with two others, were acquired by Imelda during her husband's presidency and allegedly bought using the nation's funds. Bautista's lawyer claimed that the aide sold the painting for Imelda but did not have a chance to give her the money. The Philippine government seeks the return of the painting. ''Le Bassin aux Nympheas'', also known as ''Japanese Footbridge over the Water-Lily Pond at Giverny'', is part of Monet's famed Water Lilies series. A sympathetic portrait of Claude Monet can be found in R. W. Meek's historical fiction novels ''The Dream Collector, Book I'' and ''Book II''. Monet's documented attack of hysterical blindness is reimagined and cured through hypnosis by the dream collector, Julie Forette.


Nazi looting

Under the Nazi regime, both in Germany from 1933 and in German-occupied countries until 1945, Jewish art collectors of Monet were robbed by Nazis and their agents. Several of the stolen artworks have been returned to their rightful owners, while others have been the object of court battles. In 2014, during the spectacular discovery of a hidden trove of art in Munich, a Monet that had belonged to a Jewish retail magnate was found in the suitcase of Cornelius Gurlitt, the son of one of
Hitler's Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
official dealers of looted art,
Hildebrand Gurlitt Hildebrand Gurlitt (15 September 1895 – 9 November 1956) was a German art historian and art gallery director who dealt in Nazi-looted art as one of Hitler's and Goering's four authorized dealers for " degenerate art". A Nazi-associated art dea ...
. Examples of Nazi-looted Monet works include: *''Bord de Mer'', purchased by Austrians Adalbert and Hilda Parlagi in 1936. After the ''
Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...
'', they fled in 1938, leaving it in a Vienna warehouse. It resurfaced in France in 2016 and was restored to the Parlagis' granddaughters in 2024. *''Haystacks at Giverny'' belonged to
René Gimpel René Albert Gimpel (4 October 1881–3 January 1945) was a French art dealer of Alsatian Jewish descent who died in 1945 in Neuengamme concentration camp, near Hamburg, Germany. Art dealer and collector Friend and patron of living artists ...
, a French Jewish art dealer killed in a Nazi concentration camp. * ''Nymphéas'', stolen by Nazis in 1940 from Paul Rosenberg. * ''Au Parc Monceau'', previously owned by
Ludwig Kainer Ludwig Kainer (28 June 1885 – 25 April 1967) was a German graphic artist, draftsman, painter, illustrator, film architect and costume designer. Early life Kainer was born in Munich. He studied medicine before turning to art. During a sta ...
, whose vast collection was looted by the Nazis. * ''Le Repos Dans Le Jardin Argenteuil'', previously owned by Henry and Maria Newman, stolen from a Berlin bank vault, settlement with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. * ''La Seine à Asnières/Les Péniches sur la Seine'', formerly owned by Mrs. Fernand Halphen, taken by agents of the German Embassy in Paris on 10 July 1940. Monet's ''Le Palais Ducal'', and his 1880 work, ''Poppy Field near Vétheuil'', formerly in the collection of Max Emden, have been the object of restitution claims. "La Mare, Snow Effect" ("La Mare, effect de neige") was the object of a settlement with the heirs of
Richard Semmel Richard Semmel (September 15, 1875 – December 2, 1950) was a German entrepreneur and art collector who was persecuted by the Nazis because of his Jewish heritage. His heirs have filed restitution claims for artworks. Life Richard Semmel was ...
.


See also

*
List of paintings by Claude Monet This is a list of works by Claude Monet (1840–1926), including all the extant finished paintings but Water Lilies (Monet series), excluding the ''Water Lilies'', which can be found here, and preparatory black and white sketches.


Footnotes


References


Sources

* * * Berger, John (1985). ''The White Bird''. London: Chatto & Windus. * * * * *. Originally published in 1920. This edition presented and annotated by C. Judrin. * * * * * * *


Further reading

* Ganz, James A. and Richard Kendall (2007). ''The Unknown Monet: Pastels and Drawings''. Williamstown, Mass. : Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. * Rey, Jean-Dominique and Denis Rouart (2008). ''Monet, les nymphéas : l'intégralité'' (in French). Paris: Flammarion. *
Wildenstein, Daniel Daniel Leopold Wildenstein (11 September 1917 – 23 October 2001) was a French art dealer, historian and owner-breeder of thoroughbred and standardbred race horses. He was the third member of the family to preside over Wildenstein & Co., one o ...
(1974–1991).
Claude Monet : biographie et catalogue raisonné
' (in French). Vol. I–V. Lausanne; Paris: Wildenstein Institute and La Bibliothèque des Arts.


External links

*
Claude Monet, Ministère de la culture et de la communication

Claude Monet, Joconde, Portail des collections des musées de France



Union List of Artist Names, Getty Vocabularies

Claude Monet at The Guggenheim

Monet at Norton Simon Museum

''Impressionism: a centenary exhibition''
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Monet (p. 131–167)
''Monet: The Late Years'' exhibition at Kimbell Art Museum

Claude Monet: The Revised Catalogue Raisonné, The Pastels
the digital catalogue raisonné at th
Wildenstein Plattner Institute

Claude Monet Research Archives (1901–1987)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monet, Claude 1840 births 1926 deaths 19th-century French painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists École des Beaux-Arts alumni Painters from Paris Burials in Normandy Deaths from lung cancer in France French atheists French Impressionist painters French male painters Legion of Honour refusals Artists from Le Havre People from Eure Painters from Normandy