Born in Paris in 1840, the Only Subject That Interested Monet As a Child Was Painting

Masterpiece Art: Claude Monet & Impressionism

Mrs. Smith’s class did their fourth Masterpiece Art project today. The theme of this month’s project is flowers, so we introduced Claude Monet and had the children collaborate on creating an impressionist flower collage.

Claude Monet (1840-1926) was the leader of the Impressionist movement in France. The term ‘Impressionism’ was coined from a critic’s review of one of his paintings, Impression, Sunrise (1873).

Born in Paris in 1840, the only subject that interested Monet as a child was painting.

By age 15, he was getting paid for his work. At age 16, Monet met his lifelong mentor, the painter Eugene Boudin. As Monet studied painting and grew as an artist he soon became disillusioned by traditional principles in art. After serving briefly in Algeria in military service, Monet met the artists Frederic Bazille, Auguste Renior and Alfred

Sisley. The binding thread of the group was their dedication to their new approach

to art, which was eventually known as Impressionism.

Characteristics of Impressionist paintings include visible brush strokes, ordinary

subject matter, movement, as well as emphasis on accurate depiction of light in

changing time. Previously, still lifes and portraits as well as landscapes had usually

been painted indoors. Monet took to painting en plein air (outside), often switching

back and forth to several canvases to capture the same subject at different times of day, using different colors as the sky and light changed. Radicals in their time, early Impressionists, such as Monet, broke the rules of academic painting, giving more importance to brushstrokes of layered color to create an ‘overall impression’, rather

than using the traditional smooth blendings of color, defined shapes and lines.

Despite almost constant rejection and financial uncertainty, Monet’s paintings never became morose or somber. Instead, Monet immersed himself in the task of perfecting a style which still had not been accepted by the world at large. Monet’s compositions from this time are very loosely structured, and the color was applied in strong, distinct strokes, to suggest that the artist had indeed captured a spontaneous impression of nature. He made many trips to scenic areas of France to study the most brilliant effects of light and color possible. He later painted his series of Rouen Cathedral, noticing how every aspect of the scene was altered in accordance with the changing light. This realization was to become an obsession in his later years. At last, Monet gained renown and he became financially secure for the first time in his life. With this new-found luxury, Monet devoted himself to gardening which provided a motif for the painter’s last important work, the Water Lily Pool. Later in life he also worked on his other celebrated "series" paintings, groups of works representing the same object - haystacks, poplars, the river Seine - seen in varying light, at different times of the day or seasons of the year.

Despite failing eyesight, Monet continued to paint almost to the time of his death,

on December 5, 1926.