Claude Monet Self Portrait Claude Monet Biography 1840-1926, French landscape painter, b. Paris. Monet was a founder of impressionism. He adhered to its principles throughout his long career and is considered the most consistently representative painter of the school as well as one of the foremost painters of landscape in the history of art. As a youth in Le Havre, Monet was encouraged by the marine painter Boudin to paint in the open air, a practice he never forsook. After two years (1860-62) with the army in Algeria, he went to Paris, over parental objections, to study painting. In Paris, Monet formed lasting friendships with the artists who would become the major impressionists, including Pissarro, Cézanne, Renoir, Sisley, and Bazille. He and several of his friends painted for a time out-of-doors in the Barbizon district. Monet soon began to concern himself with his lifelong objective: portraying the variations of light and atmosphere brought on by changes of hour and season. Rather than copy in the Louvre, the traditional practice of young artists, Monet learned from his friends, from the landscape itself, and from the works of his older contemporaries Manet, Corot, and Courbet. Monet's representation of light was based on his knowledge of the laws of optics as well as his own observations of his subjects. He often showed natural color by breaking it down into its different components as a prism does. Eliminating black and gray from his palette, Monet rejected entirely the academic approach to landscape. In his later works Monet allowed his vision of light to dissolve the real structures of his subjects. To do this he chose simple matter, making several series of studies of the same object at different times of day or year: haystacks, morning views of the Seine, the Gare Saint-Lazare (1876-78), poplars (begun 1890), the Thames, the celebrated group of Rouen Cathedral (1892-94), and the last great lyrical series of water lilies (1899, and 1904-25), painted in his own garden at Giverny (one version, a vast triptych c.1920; Mus. of Modern Art, New York City). In 1874 Sisley, Morisot, and Monet organized the first impressionist group show, which was ferociously maligned by the critics, who coined the term impressionism after Monet's Impression: Sunrise, 1872 (Mus. Marmottan, Paris). The show failed financially. However, by 1883 Monet had prospered, and he retired from Paris to his home in Giverny. In the last decade of his life Monet, nearly blind, painted a group of large water lily murals (Nymphéas) for the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris. Monet's work is particularly well represented in the Louvre, the Marmottan (Paris), the National Gallery (London), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago. It is also included in many famous private collections. 1840 Birth of Claude Oscar MONET on November 14th in Paris. 1845 The family moves to Le Havre. 1857 Death of his mother Louise Monet. 1858 Claude Monet meets Eugène Boudin who encourages him to paint out of doors. 1859 Monet comes to Paris and enters the Swiss Academy. 1860 Monet meets Pissaro and Courbet. 1863 Monet discovers Manet's painting and paints "en plein air" in the Fontainebleau forest. 1864 Monet stays in Honfleur with Boudin, Bazille, Jondkind. He meets his first art lover : Gaudibert. 1865 Monet's paintings are submitted for the first time to the official Salon. Camille Doncieux his lady friend and Bazille pose for Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe (the Picnic). 1867 Birth of his first son Jean Monet while Claude Monet is in Sainte-Adresse. 1868 Monet tries to commit suicide. He receives a pension from Mr Gaudibert. He paints in Fecamp and Etretat. 1869 Monet settles in the village of Saint-Michel near Bougival where he paints in company of Renoir. 1870 Monet marries Camille, Courbet is his witness. They take refuge in London when the war begins. 1871 Monet meets Durand-Ruel in London with Pissaro and Daubigny. Death of his father. Monet settles at Argenteuil after visiting the Netherlands. 1873 Monet meets Caillebotte. 1874 Monet exhibits "Impression : sunrise" at the first Impressionist exhibition in the studio of Nadar. 1876 Monet meets Ernest and Alice Hoschedé. 1877 Bankruptcy of Ernest Hoschedé. Monet paints the Saint-Lazare train station. 1878 Birth of Michel Monet, his second son. Monet and his family settle at Vétheuil in compagny of the family Hoschedé. 1879 Death of Camille. 1881 The family moves to Poissy. 1883 Monet rents a house at Giverny. He will stay there for 43 years. 1887 Monet exhibits in New-York thanks to Durand-Ruel. 1889 Monet exhibits with Rodin. 1890 Monet purchases the house in Giverny and begins the digging for the nympheas basin. 1891 Death of Ernest Hoschedé. Monet paints the series of Meules (Haystacks) and of Peupliers (Poplars) 1892 Monet paints the Rouen Cathedrals series. He marries Alice in July. 1894 Visit of Mary Cassatt and of Cézanne at Giverny. Rodin, Clémenceau and Geffroy are present. 1900 Monet paints several views of the Japanese bridge. He takes several trips to London and paints views of the Thames. 1904 Monet travels to Madrid and admires the paintings of Velasquez. 1907 First problems with his eyesight. Monet discovers Venice. 1911 Death of Alice. 1914 Death of Jean, Monet's eldest son. Blanche moves to live near Claude Monet. 1916 The artist decides to build a large studio of 23 m x 12m at Giverny. 1916 - 1926 Claude Monet works on twelve large canvas, The Water Lilies. Following the signing of the Armistice, Monet offers to donate them to France. Theses paintings will be installed in an architectural space designed specifically for them at the museum of the Orangerie in Paris. 1923 Monet is nearly blind. He has an operation from the cataract in one eye. His sight improves. 1926 In February Monet is still painting. But he suffers from lung cancer. He dies on December 5th. He is buried in a simple ceremony at Giverny. His friend Georges Clémenceau attends the ceremony.

CLAUDE MONET POSTER SHOP