Monet was here

As one of the founders of Impressionism – the term derives from the title of one of Monet’s own paintings, Impression, Sunrise – the artist epitomised the movement with his free brushstrokes, bold, complementary colours and tendency to paint outdoors. Monet is typically known for his landscapes, his scenes of nature and of course the Water Lilies at his home in Giverny, France.

In 1867, crowds in their millions came to marvel at Paris's world expo, the "Exposition Universelle". Among them was Monet, then a young artist.

Inspired by the fair, Monet went in search of urban subjects to paint. His cityscapes from this period show an artist attentive to modern life.

  La Gare Saint-Lazare 1877, Musée d'Orsay
  Arrival of the Normandy Train 1877, Gare Saint-Lazare, The Art Institute of Chicago
  Vétheuil in the Fog 1879, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris

Monet rented and eventually purchased a house and gardens in Giverny. There was a barn that doubled as a painting studio, orchards and a small garden. The house was close enough to the local schools for the children to attend, and the surrounding landscape offered many suitable motifs for his work.

He built the garden in Giverny with the inspiration from "うきよえ" Japanese art, and the influence continued to expand to his works.

Monet's methods

Crucial to the art of the Impressionist painters was the understanding of the effects of light on the local colour of objects, and the effects of the juxtaposition of colours with each other.

In 1856, his chance meeting with Eugene Boudin, a painter of small beach scenes, opened his eyes to the possibility of plein air painting. From that time, he dedicated himself to searching for new and improved methods of painterly expression.

As we saw previously, Water Lilies and the steamy station were painted in various light conditions.

Monet, with a scientific precision, has given us an unparalleled and unexcelled record of the passing of time as seen in the movement of light over identical forms.

Monet & Nature

Being an active person, Monet walks through buildings, into the forest. He travels between countries, between civilisation and nature, thus he illustrated various kinds of scenery.

I have painted the Seine throughout my life, at every hour, at every season. I have never tired of it: for me the Seine is always new.

Monet’s Last Years

Failing Sight

Monet's second wife, Alice, died in 1911, and his oldest son Jean, who had married Alice's daughter Blanche, Monet's particular favourite, died in 1914. After Alice died, Blanche looked after and cared for Monet. It was during this time that Monet began to develop the first signs of cataracts.

During World War I, Monet painted a series of weeping willow trees as homage to the French fallen soldiers. In 1923, he underwent two operations to remove his cataracts. The paintings done while the cataracts affected his vision have a general reddish tone, which is characteristic of the vision of cataract victims. It may also be that after surgery he was able to see certain ultraviolet wavelengths of light that are normally excluded by the lens of the eye; this may have had an effect on the colours he perceived. After his operations he even repainted some of these paintings, with bluer water lilies than before.

Death

Monet died of lung cancer on 5 December 1926 at the age of 86 and is buried in the Giverny church cemetery.

His home, garden, and waterlily pond were bequeathed by his son Michel to the French Academy of Fine Arts in 1966. Through the Foundation Claude Monet, the house and gardens were opened for visits in 1980, following restoration.

Life & Career

Monet was born in Paris. His mother supported his desire for a career in art. In 1851, Monet entered Le Havre secondary school of the arts.

Monet's fortunes began to change for the better as his dealer had increasing success in selling his paintings from 1883. He lived a rather ordinary life overall, comparing to some vanguards. We can feel that from most of his paintings, that expression impresses strongly and temperately.

a completely new, fluid, and somewhat audacious style of painting in which the water-lily pond became the point of departure for an almost abstract art.

— Gary Tinterow