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Claude Monet

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Claude Monet



 
 
Claude Monet (French ) also known as Oscar-Claude Monet or Claude Oscar Monet (14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a founder of French impressionist
Impressionism

Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that began as a loose association of Paris-based artists art exhibition their art publicly in the 1860s....
 painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. The term Impressionism is derived from the title of his painting Impression, Sunrise
Impression, Sunrise

'Impression, Sunrise' is a painting by Claude Monet, for which the Impressionism movement was named.Dated 1872 in art, but probably created in 1873 in art, its subject is the harbour of Le Havre in France, using very loose brush strokes that suggest rather than delineate it....
.

de Monet was born on 14 November 1840 on the fifth floor of 45 rue Laffitte, in the ninth arrondissement of Paris.






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Claude Monet (French ) also known as Oscar-Claude Monet or Claude Oscar Monet (14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a founder of French impressionist
Impressionism

Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that began as a loose association of Paris-based artists art exhibition their art publicly in the 1860s....
 painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. The term Impressionism is derived from the title of his painting Impression, Sunrise
Impression, Sunrise

'Impression, Sunrise' is a painting by Claude Monet, for which the Impressionism movement was named.Dated 1872 in art, but probably created in 1873 in art, its subject is the harbour of Le Havre in France, using very loose brush strokes that suggest rather than delineate it....
.

Early life

Claude Monet was born on 14 November 1840 on the fifth floor of 45 rue Laffitte, in the ninth arrondissement of Paris. He was the second son of Claude-Adolphe and Louise-Justine Aubrée Monet, both of them second-generation Parisians. On 20 May 1841, he was baptised in the local parish church, Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, as Oscar-Claude. In 1845, his family moved to Le Havre
Le Havre

Le Havre is a city in the northwest region of France situated on the right bank of the mouth of the Seine River as it outlets into the Bay of the Seine section of the English Channel....
 in Normandy
Normandy

Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is situated along the coast of France south of the English Channel between Brittany and Picardy and comprises territory in northern France and the Channel Islands....
. His father wanted him to go into the family grocery business, but Monet wanted to become an artist. His mother was a singer.

On the first of April 1851, Monet entered the Le Havre secondary school of the arts. He first became known locally for his charcoal caricatures, which he would sell for ten to twenty franc
Franc

The franc is the name of several currency units, most notably the French franc, the currency of France until it adopted the euro in 1999 , and the Swiss franc, still a major world currency today due to the prominence of Switzerland Banking in Switzerland....
s. Monet also undertook his first drawing lessons from Jacques-François Ochard
Jacques-François Ochard

Jacques-Fran?ois Ochard was a French artist, remembered as the first art teacher of Claude Monet at his high school.Jacques-Fran?ois Ochard had been a student of Jacques-Louis David , and lived in Normandy, to where Monet's family had moved in 1845....
, a former student of Jacques-Louis David
Jacques-Louis David

Jacques-Louis David was a highly influential France painter in the Neoclassicism style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in taste away from Rococo frivolity toward a classical austerity and severity, chiming with the moral climate of the final years of th...
. On the beaches of Normandy in about 1856/1857 he met fellow artist Eugène Boudin
Eugène Boudin

Eug?ne Boudin was one of the first France landscape painters to paint outdoors.Boudin was a Marine painter, and expert in the rendering of all that goes upon the sea and along its shores....
, who became his mentor and taught him to use oil paints. Boudin taught Monet "en plein air
En plein air

En plein air is a French language expression which means "in the open air", and is particularly used to describe the act of painting outdoors....
" (outdoor) techniques for painting.

On 28 January 1857 his mother died. He was 16 years old when he left school and went to live with his widowed childless aunt, Marie-Jeanne Lecadre.

Paris


When Monet traveled to Paris to visit the Louvre, he witnessed painters copying from the old masters. Monet, having brought his paints and other tools with him, would instead go and sit by a window and paint what he saw. Monet was in Paris for several years and met several painters who would become friends and fellow impressionists. One of those friends was Édouard Manet
Édouard Manet

?douard Manet , 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883, was a French Painting. One of the first nineteenth century artists to approach modern-life subjects, he was a pivotal figure in the transition from realism to Impressionism....
.

In June 1861 Monet joined the First Regiment of African Light Cavalry in Algeria
Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country of the Mediterranean sea, second largest in the Arab World, and the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area....
 for two years of a seven-year commitment, but upon his contracting typhoid his aunt Marie-Jeanne Lecadre intervened to get him out of the army if he agreed to complete an art course at a university. It is possible that the Dutch painter Johan Barthold Jongkind, whom Monet knew, may have prompted his aunt on this matter. Disillusioned with the traditional art taught at universities, in 1862 Monet became a student of Charles Gleyre in Paris, where he met Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Frédéric Bazille
Frédéric Bazille

Jean Fr?d?ric Bazille was a France Impressionism painter whose major works often foreground figure painting within a landscape painted plein-air....
 and Alfred Sisley
Alfred Sisley

Alfred Sisley was an English Impressionism Landscape art Painting who was born and spent most of his life in France. Sisley is recognized as perhaps the most consistent of the Impressionists, never deviating into figure painting or finding that the movement did not fulfill his artistic needs....
. Together they shared new approaches to art, painting the effects of light en plein air
En plein air

En plein air is a French language expression which means "in the open air", and is particularly used to describe the act of painting outdoors....
 with broken color and rapid brushstrokes, in what later came to be known as Impressionism
Impressionism

Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that began as a loose association of Paris-based artists art exhibition their art publicly in the 1860s....
.

Monet's Camille or The Woman in the Green Dress (La Femme à la Robe Verte), painted in 1866, brought him recognition and was one of many works featuring his future wife, Camille Doncieux
Camille Doncieux

Camille Doncieux was the first wife of Claude Monet.She modeled for her husband on several occasions, including for the painting Camille, "The Woman in the Green Dress"....
; she was the model for the figures in The Woman in the Garden of the following year, as well as for On the Bank of the Seine, Bennecourt, 1868, pictured here. Shortly thereafter Doncieux became pregnant and gave birth to their first child, Jean. In 1868, due to financial pressures, Monet attempted suicide by throwing himself into the Seine
Seine

The Seine is a slow flowing major river and commercial waterway within Regions of France of ?le-de-France and Haute-Normandie in France and famous as a romantic backdrop in photographs of Paris, France....
.

Franco-Prussian War, Impressionism, and Argenteuil

Claude Monet, Impression, Soleil Levant, 1872
After the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between Second French Empire and Kingdom of Prussia, while Prussia was backed by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Grand Duchy of Baden, History of W?rttemberg#The Kingdom...
 (19 July 1870), Monet took refuge in England in September 1870. While there, he studied the works of John Constable
John Constable

John Constable was an England Romanticism painting. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for his landscape art of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home?now known as "Constable Country"?which he invested with an intensity of affection....
 and Joseph Mallord William Turner, both of whose landscapes would serve to inspire Monet's innovations in the study of color. In the Spring of 1871, Monet's works were refused authorisation to be included in the Royal Academy exhibition.

In May 1871 he left London to live in Zaandam
Zaandam

Zaandam is a town in the Netherlands province of North Holland. It is the main city of the municipality of Zaanstad, and received City rights in the Netherlands in 1811....
, where he made 25 paintings (and the police suspected him of revolutionary activities). He also paid a first visit to nearby Amsterdam
Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the Capital of the Netherlands and List of cities in the Netherlands with over 100,000 people of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands of North Holland in the west of the country....
. In October or November 1871 he returned to France. Monet lived from December 1871 to 1878 at Argenteuil
Argenteuil

Argenteuil is a commune in France in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 12.3 km from the Kilometre Zero. Argenteuil is a sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise Departments of France and the seat of the Arrondissement of Argenteuil....
, a village on the Seine near Paris, and here he painted some of his best known works. In 1874, he briefly returned to Holland.

In 1872 (or 1873), he painted Impression, Sunrise
Impression, Sunrise

'Impression, Sunrise' is a painting by Claude Monet, for which the Impressionism movement was named.Dated 1872 in art, but probably created in 1873 in art, its subject is the harbour of Le Havre in France, using very loose brush strokes that suggest rather than delineate it....
 (Impression: soleil levant)
depicting a Le Havre
Le Havre

Le Havre is a city in the northwest region of France situated on the right bank of the mouth of the Seine River as it outlets into the Bay of the Seine section of the English Channel....
 landscape. It hung in the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874 and is now displayed in the Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris. From the painting's title, art critic Louis Leroy
Louis Leroy

Louis Leroy was a France 19th century engraver, painter, and successful playwright. However, he is remembered as the journalist and art critic for the French satire newspaper Le Charivari, who neologism the term "impressionism" to satirise the artists now known by the word....
 coined the term "Impressionism
Impressionism

Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that began as a loose association of Paris-based artists art exhibition their art publicly in the 1860s....
", which he intended as disparagement but which the Impressionists appropriated for themselves.

Monet and Camille Doncieux
Camille Doncieux

Camille Doncieux was the first wife of Claude Monet.She modeled for her husband on several occasions, including for the painting Camille, "The Woman in the Green Dress"....
 had married just before the war (28 June 1870) and, after their excursion to London and Zaandam, they had moved into a house in Argenteuil
Argenteuil

Argenteuil is a commune in France in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 12.3 km from the Kilometre Zero. Argenteuil is a sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise Departments of France and the seat of the Arrondissement of Argenteuil....
 near the Seine
Seine

The Seine is a slow flowing major river and commercial waterway within Regions of France of ?le-de-France and Haute-Normandie in France and famous as a romantic backdrop in photographs of Paris, France....
 in December 1871. It was during this time that Monet painted various works of modern life in this popular suburb. Camille became ill in 1876. They had a second son, Michel, on 17 March 1878, (Jean
Jean Monet

Jean Monet can mean:* Jean Monet * Jean Monet , a frequent subject of paintings by his father Claude Monet...
 was born in 1867). This second child weakened her already fading health. In that same year, he moved to the village of Vétheuil
Vétheuil

V?theuil is a small Communes of France in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. V?theuil is located in the arrondissement of Pontoise in the Val-d'Oise Departments of France....
. At the age of thirty-two, Madame Monet died on 5 September 1879 of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacterium, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis . Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect the central nervous system, the lymphatic system, the circulatory system, the genitourinary system, the gastrointestinal system, bones, joints, and even the...
; Monet painted her on her death bed.

Gallery of early paintings

Image:Claude Monet - Camille.JPG|The Woman in the Green Dress, Camille Doncieux
Camille Doncieux

Camille Doncieux was the first wife of Claude Monet.She modeled for her husband on several occasions, including for the painting Camille, "The Woman in the Green Dress"....
, 1866, Kunsthalle
Kunsthalle Bremen

The Kunsthalle Bremen is an art museum in the Hanseatic League Bremen , Germany.The Kunsthalle was built in 1849 and enlarged in 1902 by architect Eduard Gildemeister....
 Bremen
Bremen

Bremen is a Hanseatic League city in northwestern Germany . It is a port city, situated along the Weser River, about south from its mouth on the North Sea....
. Image:Claude Monet - Le dejeuner sur l’herbe.JPG|Le dejeuner sur l'herbe, 1865-1866, The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow. Image:Monet dejeunersurlherbe.jpg|Le dejeuner sur lherbe, (right section), with Gustave Courbet
Gustave Courbet

Jean D?sir? Gustave Courbet was a France Painting who led the realism movement in 19th-century French painting....
,
1865-1866, Musée d'Orsay
Musée d'Orsay

The Mus?e d'Orsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine, housed in the former railway station, the Gare d'Orsay. It holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1915, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and Fine art photography, and is probably best known for its extensive collection of impressionist masterpieces...
, Paris. Image:Claude Monet 007.jpg|Flowering Garden at Sainte-Adresse, 1866, Musée d'Orsay
Musée d'Orsay

The Mus?e d'Orsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine, housed in the former railway station, the Gare d'Orsay. It holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1915, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and Fine art photography, and is probably best known for its extensive collection of impressionist masterpieces...
, Paris. Image:Claude Monet 022.jpg|Woman in a Garden, 1867, Hermitage
Hermitage Museum

The State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia is one of the largest museums in the world, with 3 million works of art , and one of the oldest art gallery and museums of human history and culture in the world....
, St. Petersburg Image:Claude Monet - Jardin à Sainte-Adresse.jpg|Jardin à Sainte-Adresse, 1867, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is an art museum located on the eastern edge of Central Park, along what is known as Museum Mile, New York City in New York City, USA....
, New York City Image:Claude Monet 048.jpg|Seine Basin with Argenteuil, 1872, Musée d'Orsay
Musée d'Orsay

The Mus?e d'Orsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine, housed in the former railway station, the Gare d'Orsay. It holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1915, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and Fine art photography, and is probably best known for its extensive collection of impressionist masterpieces...
, Paris. Image:Claude Monet - Jean Monet on his Hobby Horse.jpg|Jean Monet on his Hobby Horse, 1872, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is an art museum located on the eastern edge of Central Park, along what is known as Museum Mile, New York City in New York City, USA....
, New York. Image:Claude Monet - The Artist's House at Argenteuil.jpg|The Artist's House at Argenteuil, 1873, The Art Institute of Chicago Image:Claude Monet 037.jpg|Poppies Blooming, 1873, Musée d'Orsay
Musée d'Orsay

The Mus?e d'Orsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine, housed in the former railway station, the Gare d'Orsay. It holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1915, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and Fine art photography, and is probably best known for its extensive collection of impressionist masterpieces...
, Paris. Image:Claude Monet-Madame Monet en costume japonais.jpg|Madame Monet in a Japanese Costume, 1875, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States attracting over one million visitors a year....
Image:Claude Monet 011.jpg|Woman with a Parasol, (Camille and Jean Monet), 1875, National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art is a national art museum, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The museum was established in 1938 by the United States Congress, with funds for construction and a substantial art collection donated by Andrew W....
, Washington, DC. Image:Claude Monet Camille au métier.jpg|Camille Monet at Work, 1875, Barnes Foundation, Merion, PA Image:Claude Monet - Argenteuil.jpg|Argenteuil, 1875, Musée de l'Orangerie
Musée de l'Orangerie

The Mus?e de l'Orangerie is an art gallery of impressionist and post-impressionism paintings located on the Place de la Concorde in Paris. It contains works by Paul C?zanne, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri Rousseau, Chaim Soutine, Alfred Sisley and Maurice Utrillo among others....
, Paris. Image:Claude Monet 003.jpg|Saint Lazare Train Station, Paris, 1877, The Art Institute of Chicago Image:Monet-montorgueil.JPG|Rue Montorgueil, 1878, Musée d'Orsay
Musée d'Orsay

The Mus?e d'Orsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine, housed in the former railway station, the Gare d'Orsay. It holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1915, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and Fine art photography, and is probably best known for its extensive collection of impressionist masterpieces...
, Paris. Image:Claude Monet - Camille Monet sur son lit de mort.JPG|Camille Monet, on her deathbed, 1879, Musée d'Orsay
Musée d'Orsay

The Mus?e d'Orsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine, housed in the former railway station, the Gare d'Orsay. It holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1915, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and Fine art photography, and is probably best known for its extensive collection of impressionist masterpieces...
, Paris. Image:Vétheuil dans le brouillard.jpg|Vétheuil in the Fog, 1879, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris. Image:Claude Monet 053.jpg|Street near Vétheuil in Winter, 1879 Image:Monet, Lavacourt-Sunshine-and-Snow.jpg|Lavacourt: Sunshine and Snow, 1879-1880 National Gallery
National gallery

A national gallery is a country's major public art gallery. Among the galleries which have this name are:*Australia:**National Gallery of Australia, Canberra...
, London


Later life


After several difficult months following the death of Camille on 5 September 1879, a grief-stricken Monet (resolving never to be mired in poverty again) began in earnest to create some of his best paintings of the 19th century. During the early 1880s Monet painted several groups of landscapes and seascapes in what he considered to be campaigns to document the French countryside. His extensive campaigns evolved into his series' paintings.

Camille Monet
Camille Doncieux

Camille Doncieux was the first wife of Claude Monet.She modeled for her husband on several occasions, including for the painting Camille, "The Woman in the Green Dress"....
 had become ill with tuberculosis
Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacterium, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis . Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect the central nervous system, the lymphatic system, the circulatory system, the genitourinary system, the gastrointestinal system, bones, joints, and even the...
 in 1876. Pregnant with her second child she gave birth to Michel Monet in March 1878. In 1878 the Monets temporarily moved into the home of Ernest Hoschedé
Ernest Hoschedé

Ernest Hosched? was a department store magnate in Paris. He was best known as a patron of Claude Monet and other Impressionist painters, and the first husband of Monet's second wife, Alice Raingo Hosched? Monet....
, (1837-1891), a wealthy department store owner and patron of the arts. Both families then shared a house in Vétheuil
Vétheuil

V?theuil is a small Communes of France in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. V?theuil is located in the arrondissement of Pontoise in the Val-d'Oise Departments of France....
 during the summer. After her husband (Ernest Hoschedé
Ernest Hoschedé

Ernest Hosched? was a department store magnate in Paris. He was best known as a patron of Claude Monet and other Impressionist painters, and the first husband of Monet's second wife, Alice Raingo Hosched? Monet....
) became bankrupt, and left in 1878 for Belgium, in September 1879, and while Monet continued to live in the house in Vétheuil; Alice Hoschedé
Alice Hoschedé

Alice Raingo Hosched? Monet was the wife of department store magnate and art collector Ernest Hosched? and later the Impressionist painter Claude Monet....
 helped Monet to raise his two sons, Jean and Michel, by taking them to Paris to live alongside her own six children. They were Blanche, Germaine, Suzanne, Marthe, Jean-Pierre, and Jacques. In the spring of 1880 Alice Hoschedé and all the children left Paris and rejoined Monet still living in the house in Vétheuil. In 1881 all of them moved to Poissy
Poissy

ap_size=270px|adjustable_map =Poissy_map.png|mapcaption=Location within Paris inner and outer suburbs|lat_long=|r?gion=?le-de-France |d?partement=Yvelines | arrondissement=Saint-Germain-en-Laye|...
 which Monet hated. From the doorway of the little train between Vernon and Gasny he discovered Giverny. In April 1883 they moved to Vernon
Vernon, Eure

Vernon is a Commune in France in the Departments of France of Eure in the Haute-Normandie Region of France in northern France.It lies on the banks of the Seine River, about midway between the cities of Paris and Rouen....
, then to a house in Giverny
Giverny

Giverny is a commune in France of the Eure Departments of France in northern France. It is best known as the location of Claude Monet's garden and home....
, Eure
Eure

Eure is a departments of France in the north of France named after the Eure River....
, in Upper Normandy
Haute-Normandie

Haute-Normandie is one of the 26 regions of France of France. It was created in 1956 from two d?partements: Seine-Maritime and Eure, when Normandy was divided into Basse-Normandie and Haute-Normandie....
, where he planted a large garden where he painted for much of the rest of his life. Following the death of her estranged husband, Alice Hoschedé married Claude Monet in 1892.

Giverny


At the beginning of May 1883, Monet and his large family rented a house and from a local landowner. The house was situated near the main road between the towns of Vernon
Vernon, Eure

Vernon is a Commune in France in the Departments of France of Eure in the Haute-Normandie Region of France in northern France.It lies on the banks of the Seine River, about midway between the cities of Paris and Rouen....
 and Gasny at Giverny
Giverny

Giverny is a commune in France of the Eure Departments of France in northern France. It is best known as the location of Claude Monet's garden and home....
. 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 an endless array of suitable motifs for Monet's work. The family worked and built up the gardens and Monet's fortunes began to change for the better as his dealer Paul Durand-Ruel
Paul Durand-Ruel

Paul Durand-Ruel was a France art dealer who is associated with the Impressionism. He was one of the first modern art dealers who provided support to his painters with stipends and solo exhibitions....
 had increasing success in selling his paintings. By November 1890 Monet was prosperous enough to buy the house, the surrounding buildings and the land for his gardens. During the 1890s Monet built a greenhouse and a second studio, a spacious building well lit with skylights. Beginning in the 1880s and 1890s, through the end of his life in 1926, Monet worked on "series" paintings, in which a subject was depicted in varying light and weather conditions. His first series exhibited as such was of Haystacks
Haystacks (Monet)

Haystacks is the title of a series of impressionism paintings by Claude Monet. The primary subjects of all of the paintings in the series are stacks of hay that have been stacked in the field after the harvest season....
, painted from different points of view and at different times of the day. Fifteen of the paintings were exhibited at the Galerie Durand-Ruel
Paul Durand-Ruel

Paul Durand-Ruel was a France art dealer who is associated with the Impressionism. He was one of the first modern art dealers who provided support to his painters with stipends and solo exhibitions....
 in 1891. He later produced several series of paintings including: Rouen Cathedral
Rouen Cathedral (Monet)

Claude Monet painted a series of paintings of the Rouen Cathedral. The paintings mostly have one viewpoint but are however painted at different times of the day and at different weather circumstances....
,
Poplars
Poplar Series (Monet)

The Poplar series paintings were made by Claude Monet in the summer and fall of 1891. The magnificent trees were in a marsh along the banks of the Epte River a few kilometers upstream from Monet's home and studio....
,
the Parliament
London Parliament (Monet)

Claude Monet painted a series of paintings of the Palace of Westminster, home of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, during his stay in London....
,
Mornings on the Seine
Seine

The Seine is a slow flowing major river and commercial waterway within Regions of France of ?le-de-France and Haute-Normandie in France and famous as a romantic backdrop in photographs of Paris, France....
,
and the Water Lilies
Water Lilies

Water Lilies is a series of approximately 250 oil paintings by French Impressionism Claude Monet . The paintings depict Monet's flower garden at Giverny and were the main focus of Monet's artistic production during the last thirty years of his life....
  that were painted on his property at Giverny.

Monet was exceptionally fond of painting controlled nature: his own gardens in Giverny, with its water lilies
Nymphaeaceae

Nymphaeaceae is a name for a family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called water lilies and live in freshwater areas in temperate and Tropics around the world....
, pond, and bridge. He also painted up and down the banks of the Seine
Seine

The Seine is a slow flowing major river and commercial waterway within Regions of France of ?le-de-France and Haute-Normandie in France and famous as a romantic backdrop in photographs of Paris, France....
, producing paintings such as Break-up of the ice on the Seine.

He wrote daily instructions to his gardening staff, precise designs and layouts for plantings, and invoices for his floral purchases and his collection of botany books. As Monet's wealth grew, his garden evolved. He remained its architect, even after he hired seven gardeners. He built a greenhouse and a second studio, a spacious building, well lit with skylights.

Between 1883 and 1908, Monet traveled to the Mediterranean, where he painted landmarks, landscapes, and seascapes, such as Bordighera. He painted an important series of paintings in Venice, Italy, and in London he painted two important series—views of Parliament
Palace of Westminster

The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, in London, is where the two Houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom meet....
 and views of Charing Cross Bridge. His 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 his wife died, Blanche looked after and cared for him. It was during this time that Monet began to develop the first signs of cataract
Cataract

A cataract is a clouding that develops in the lens of the eye or in its envelope, varying in degree from slight to complete Opacity and obstructing the passage of light....
s.

During World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
, in which his younger son Michel served and his friend and admirer Clemenceau
Georges Clemenceau

Georges Benjamin Clemenceau was a French statesman, physician, and journalist. He served as the List of Prime Ministers of France from 1906-1909 and 1917-1920....
 led the French nation, Monet painted a series of Weeping Willow trees as homage to the French fallen soldiers. Cataracts formed on Monet's eyes, for which he underwent two operations in 1923. 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
Ultraviolet

Ultraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than x-rays, in the range 400 nanometer to 10 nm, and energies from 3 Electron volt to 124 eV....
 wavelengths of light that are normally excluded by the lens of the eye, this may have had an effect on the colors he perceived. After his operations he even repainted some of these paintings, with bluer water lilies than before the operation.

Gallery of later paintings

Image:Claude Monet 029.jpg|Hut of the Douaniers with Varengeville, 1882, Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Rotterdam

Rotterdam ; city and municipality in the Netherlands province of South Holland, situated in the west of the Netherlands. The municipality is the List of cities in the Netherlands with over 100,000 people in the country, with a population of 584,046 on 1 January 2007 and comprises the southern part of the Randstad, the List of metropolitan are...
Image:Claude Monet The Cliffs at Etretat.jpg|The Cliffs at Etretat, 1885, Clark Art Institute
Clark Art Institute

The Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute, usually referred to simply as "The Clark," is an art museum with a large and varied collection located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States....
, Williamstown
Williamstown, Massachusetts

Williamstown is a New England town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, in the northwest corner of Massachusetts. It shares a border with Vermont to the north and New York to the west....
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a U.S. state located in the New England region of the Northeastern United States United States. It borders Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north....
Image:Claude Monet 050.jpg|Still-Life with Anemones, 1885 Image:Claude Monet Pyramides Port Coton.jpg|The Port Coton Pyramids, 1886 Image:Claude Monet - Graystaks I.JPG|Haystacks, (sunset)
Haystacks (Monet)

Haystacks is the title of a series of impressionism paintings by Claude Monet. The primary subjects of all of the paintings in the series are stacks of hay that have been stacked in the field after the harvest season....
, 1890-1891, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States attracting over one million visitors a year....
Image:Claude Monet - Poplars, Philadelphia.JPG|Poplars, (autumn), 1891, Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia Museum of Art

The Philadelphia Museum of Art, known locally and colloquially as "The Art Museum", is among the largest art museums in the United States....
Image:Claude Monet - Rouen Cathedral, Facade (Sunset).JPG|Rouen Cathedral, Facade (sunset)
Rouen Cathedral (Monet)

Claude Monet painted a series of paintings of the Rouen Cathedral. The paintings mostly have one viewpoint but are however painted at different times of the day and at different weather circumstances....
, 1892-1894, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris Image:Claude Monet - Branch of the Seine near Giverny.JPG|Branch of the Seine near Giverny, 1897 Image:Bridge_Over_a_Pond_of_Water_Lilies,_Claude_Monet_1899.jpg|Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies, 1899, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is an art museum located on the eastern edge of Central Park, along what is known as Museum Mile, New York City in New York City, USA....
Image:Claude Monet 040.jpg|Pappeln on the Epte, 1900, National Gallery of Scotland
National Gallery of Scotland

The National Gallery of Scotland, in Edinburgh, is the national art gallery of Scotland. An elaborate Neoclassicism edifice, it stands on The Mound, between the two sections of Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens....
, Edinburgh
Edinburgh

Edinburgh ; is the Capital city of Scotland, a position it has held since 1437. It is the seventh largest city in the United Kingdom and the second largest Scottish City status in the United Kingdom after Glasgow....
Image:Claude Monet 025.jpg|Garden Path, 1902 Image:Claude Monet Houses of Parliament.jpg|Houses of Parliament, London
London Parliament (Monet)

Claude Monet painted a series of paintings of the Palace of Westminster, home of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, during his stay in London....
,
c. 1904, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris Image:Claude Monet - Water-Lilies (Bridgestone Museum).jpg|Water Lilies
Water Lilies

Water Lilies is a series of approximately 250 oil paintings by French Impressionism Claude Monet . The paintings depict Monet's flower garden at Giverny and were the main focus of Monet's artistic production during the last thirty years of his life....
,
1907, Bridgestone Museum of Art, Tokyo Image:Claude Monet 039.jpg|Palace From Mula, Venice, 1908, National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art is a national art museum, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The museum was established in 1938 by the United States Congress, with funds for construction and a substantial art collection donated by Andrew W....
, Washington, DC. Image:Claude Monet Water Lilies Toledo.jpg|Water Lilies
Water Lilies

Water Lilies is a series of approximately 250 oil paintings by French Impressionism Claude Monet . The paintings depict Monet's flower garden at Giverny and were the main focus of Monet's artistic production during the last thirty years of his life....
,
1914-1917, Toledo Museum of Art
Toledo Museum of Art

The Toledo Museum of Art is an internationally known art gallery located in the Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio, United States. The museum was founded by Toledo glassmaker Edward Drummond Libbey in 1901, and moved to its present location, a Greek revival building designed by Edward B....
, Toledo
Toledo, Ohio

Toledo is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio. Named after Toledo, Spain, it is located on the western end of Lake Erie, on the Michigan border....
, Ohio
Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern United States U.S. state of the United States. As part of the Great Lakes region , Ohio has long been a cultural and geographical crossroads in North America....
Image:Claude Monet Nympheas Marmottan.jpg|Nympheas, c. 1916, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris Image:Monet Water Lilies 1916.jpg|Water Lilies
Water Lilies

Water Lilies is a series of approximately 250 oil paintings by French Impressionism Claude Monet . The paintings depict Monet's flower garden at Giverny and were the main focus of Monet's artistic production during the last thirty years of his life....
,
1916, The National Museum of Western Art
The National Museum of Western Art

The is the premier public art gallery in Japan specializing in art from the Western tradition.The Museum is located in the museum and zoo complex in Ueno Park in Taito, Tokyo, central Tokyo....
, Tokyo Image:Claude Monet, Water-Lily Pond and Weeping Willow.JPG|Water-Lily Pond and Weeping Willow, 1916-1919 Image:Claude Monet Weeping Willow.jpg|Weeping Willow, 1918-1919, Kimball Art Museum, Fort Worth Image:Claude Monet 044.jpg|Sea-Roses (Yellow Nirwana), 1920, The National Gallery, London


Death

Claude Monet 038
Monet died of lung cancer
Lung cancer

Lung cancer is a disease of uncontrolled cell growth in tissue of the lung. This growth may lead to metastasis, which is the invasion of adjacent tissue and infiltration beyond the lungs....
 on 5 December 1926 at the age of 86 and is buried in the Giverny
Giverny

Giverny is a commune in France of the Eure Departments of France in northern France. It is best known as the location of Claude Monet's garden and home....
 church cemetery. Monet had insisted that the occasion be simple; thus about fifty people attended the ceremony.

His famous home and garden with its waterlily pond were bequeathed by his heirs to the French Academy of Fine Arts (part of the Institut de France
Institut de France

The Institut de France is a France learned society, grouping five acad?mies, the most famous of which is probably the Acad?mie fran?aise....
) in 1966. Through the Fondation Claude Monet, the home and gardens were opened for visit in 1980, following refurbishment. In addition to souvenirs of Monet and other objects of his life, the home contains his collection of Japanese woodcut prints
Ukiyo-e

, "pictures of the floating world", is a genre of Japanese woodblock printing and paintings produced between the 17th and the 20th centuries, featuring motifs of landscapes, tales from history, the theatre and pleasure quarters....
. The home is one of the two main attractions of Giverny
Giverny

Giverny is a commune in France of the Eure Departments of France in northern France. It is best known as the location of Claude Monet's garden and home....
, which hosts tourists from all over the world.

Posthumous sales


In 2004, London, the Parliament, Effects of Sun in the Fog (Londres, le Parlement, trouée de soleil dans le brouillard) (1904), sold for U.S. $
United States dollar

The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States and was defined by the Coinage Act of 1792 to be between 371 and 416 grains of silver ....
20.1 million. In 2006, the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society
Proceedings of the Royal Society

Proceedings of the Royal Society is the parent title of two scientific journals published by the Royal Society.Originally a single journal, "Proceedings" was split into two separate journals in 1905;...
 published a paper providing evidence that these were painted in situ at St Thomas' Hospital
St Thomas' Hospital

St Thomas' Hospital is a large National Health Service hospital in Lambeth, London, England. It is administratively a part of Guy?s & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust....
 over the river Thames.

Falaises près de Dieppe (Cliffs near Dieppe) has been stolen on two separate occasions. Once in 1998 (in which the museum's curator was convicted of the theft and jailed for five years along with two accomplices) and most recently in August 2007. It has yet to be recovered.

Monet's Le Pont du chemin de fer à Argenteuil, an 1873 painting of a railway bridge spanning the Seine
Seine

The Seine is a slow flowing major river and commercial waterway within Regions of France of ?le-de-France and Haute-Normandie in France and famous as a romantic backdrop in photographs of Paris, France....
 near Paris, was bought by an anonymous telephone bidder for a record $ 41.4 million at Christie's
Christie's

Christie's is a leading art business and a fine arts auction house....
 auction in New York on 6 May 2008. The previous record for his painting stood at $ 36.5 million.Le bassin aux nymphéas
Le Bassin Aux Nymphéas

Le Bassin Aux Nymph?as is one of the series of water lilies paintings by France Impressionism artist Claude Monet. An oil on canvas measuring 100.4 ? 201 cm ....
 (from the water lilies series) sold at Christie's 24 June 2008, lot 19, for £36,500,000 ($71,892,376.34) (hammer price) or £40,921,250 ($80,451,178) with fees, setting a new auction record for the artist.

Nympheas - Water Lilies sold for GBP £16,500,000 (US $32,670,000). This was one of the highest prices paid for Monet's work.

See also

  • Étretat
    Étretat

    ?tretat is a commune in France in the Seine-Maritime d?partement in France of France....
  • History of painting
    History of painting

    The history of painting reaches back in time to artifacts from pre-historic humans, and spans all cultures, that represents a continuous, though disrupted, tradition from Antiquity....
  • List of works by Claude Monet
    List of works by Claude Monet

    Works by Claude MonetTable...
  • Western painting
    Western painting

    The history of Western painting represents a continuous, though disrupted, tradition from classical antiquity. Until the mid 19th century it was primarily concerned with Representational art and Classical antiquity modes of production, after which time more Modern art, Abstract art and Conceptual art forms gained favor....


External links

  • a timeline of Monet's life
  • - view sketchbooks