When most people think of Claude Monet, they think of the Impressionism art movement. Monet was one of the key personalities for the impressionism movement.
Claude Monet was one of the more prolific and consistent Impressionism painters. He was a great believer in painting what in nature and painting the changing light. He was an en Plein air painter. He is known for his strong and bold color and short brush strokes.
You can not study impressionism without studying and learning about Claude Monet; he continues to be one of the vital Impressionism painters of all time.
About Claude Monet
Claude Monet is also known as Oscar-Claude Monet or Claude-Oscar Monet; he was born on November 14, 1840, and died December 5, 1926.
Monet is considered the founder of French impressionism painting and was also the most consistent and prolific painter in the impressionist movement. He believed in the philosophy of expressing one’s perceptions before nature, mainly as applied to en Plein Air landscape painting and the painting of changing light.
When Monet visited the Lourve in Paris, he noticed that many other painters were sitting before the master’s paintings and trying to copy the images precisely. Instead of replicating those paintings, Monet sat by the window and painted what he saw outside.
He was in Paris for several years, and that is where he saw and met other painters and became friends with fellow impressionists; one of those friends was Edouard Manet.
In 1890, Monet decided to take refuge in England during the Franco-Prussian war. While he was there, he took the opportunity to study the works of John Constable and Joseph Mallord William Turner. Both of their landscape artists inspired Monets to study color and how they painted nature.
From 1871 to 1878, Monet lived in France and visited Holland. One of his most famous paintings is Soleil Levant which means the impressionism sunrise. When he put it in the exhibition in 1874 in Paris, it was from this painting that the impressionist movement received its name.
In 1870 he married Camille Dobcueux. By 1976 after giving birth to two children, she became ill. By 1879 she had died of tuberculosis; Monet painted her on her deathbed.
After the difficult months following the death of his beloved Camille, Monet was grief-stricken. But he also resolved that he would continue painting, and he continued to paint some of the best paintings of the 19th century.
Later in 1892, Claude Monet would remarry to Alice Hoschede, whom he had known for a long time; Alice helped him raise his two sons along with her other children.
Giverny and Monet’s Art Work
In 1883 Monet, Alice, and their large family rented a house on two acres from a local landowner. The house is situated on the main road at Giverny.
There was a large barn that also doubled as his painting studio. The property had orchards and a small garden. The surrounding landscape offered Monet a lot of suitable places to paint.
The family worked and built up the gardens. Monets fortunes also began to change. His art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel had great success in selling Monets paintings.
By 1890, Monet with prosperous enough to buy the house and the surrounding buildings and land for the garden. Within a few years, he started also to build greenhouses and a second studio and other spacious buildings.
Giverny became Monet’s main painting studio for the rest of his life. He travels to the Mediterranean, Venice, Italy, and London to paint, but most of his painting was done in Giverny and the surrounding area.
Later in his life, Monet developed cataracts. Cataracts, of course, would have affected his painting. He died in 1926 at the age of 86. He is buried in Giverny church cemetery, and he insisted that his funeral be a simple occasion, so only about 50 people attended.
In 1966 his heirs gave his home and gardens in Giverny to the France Academy of Fine Arts. In the 1980s, following many refurbishments, his house and gardens were open for visitors. In addition to seeing the objects of his life, the home contains his collection of Japanese woodblock prints.
Monet Was The Master Of Light And Color
Monet and his paintings show his ability to master light and color. The impressionist movement is named after Monet, one of the core painters for impressionism.
Monet sought to capture the essence of the natural world in his paintings using solid and bold colors and his short brushstrokes. His painting technique was in direct contrast to how people were painting during his time when they blended colors and had an evenness in their painting as in classical art.
Monet was an outspoken advocate for the Impressionism movement; his paintings showed all the values and techniques of the Impressionists. Many other artists used his works of art for their inspiration.
He was an en Plein Air painter who believed in painting outdoors to capture the changing light. To discover more about en Plein air Painting, you can read our blog on All About En Plein Air Painting, What You Need To Know by clicking here.
Monet is one of his most beloved and famous Impressionism artists.
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