Claude Monet (1840–1926,) fully Oscar-Claude Monet, was a French painter. He was the originator, principal, and staunch advocate of the Impressionist style, a pivotal style in the development of modern art.
Born in Paris, Monet served in the army in Algeria. He spent the rest of his career capturing the most subtle nuances of color, atmosphere, and light in the landscape. At his farmhouse in the hamlet of Giverny, 40 miles from Paris, Monet developed his method of producing repeated studies of the same motif in series, changing canvases with the light or as his interest shifted. These series, such as “Images of Haystacks” (1890–91) and the “Rouen Cathedral” (1894,) were often exhibited in groups. Also in Giverny, Monet created the water-lily pond that inspired his last series of paintings.
After his death, Monet’s influence on contemporary art receded among the avant-garde, who preferred the more radical styles of artists such as Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, and Marcel Duchamp. Interest in Monet’s work was revived in the 1950s when his works traveled the world and attracted record-breaking crowds in museum exhibitions.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Claude Monet
I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.
—Claude Monet
Topics: Flowers, Gardening
My only desire is an intimate infusion with nature, and the only fate I wish is to have worked and lived in harmony with her laws.
—Claude Monet
It’s on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way. So we must dig and delve unceasingly.
—Claude Monet
Everyday I discover more and more beautiful things. It’s enough to drive one mad. I have such a desire to do everything, my head is bursting with it.
—Claude Monet
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