Claude Monet

"Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand,
as if it were necessary to understand,
when it is simply necessary to love."
~ Claude Monet

Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies, 1899 Claude Monet, Courtesy of metmuseum.org

• Monet, a French painter is one of the most famous painters in the history of art and a leading figure in the Impressionist movement.
• Monet was born on November 14, 1840 and died at age 86 on December 5, 1926.
• He was baptized as Oscar-Claude, but his parents called him Oscar.
• His painting Impression: Sunrise, 1872 gave the Impressionists art movement its name.
• Impressionism was concerned with capturing light and natural forms.
• When he was young, Monet wanted to become an artist, but his father wanted him to go into the family grocery business.
• Monet was seen as a rebel at school. He would draw caricatures of his teachers and friends instead of doing his work.
• Monet created several series of paintings including: Rouen Cathedral, Poplars, the Parliament, Mornings on the Seine, and the Water Lilies. Monet’s “series” paintings depicted the subject in varying light and weather conditions.
• Haystacks was Monet’s first series exhibited. The haystacks were painted from different points of view and at different times of the day.
• Monet painted until his death and would sometimes repaint some of his canvasses.
• The painting Falaises près de Dieppe (Cliffs near Dieppe) has been stolen twice, once in 1998 and most recently in 2007. It was recovered both times.
• Visit Giverny to see Monet's gardens and sources of inspiration for many of his paintings.