Born in Paris, France, in 1840, Claude Monet became one of the leaders of the Impressionist movement, securing his position in art history (“Claude Monet Autobiography”). Moving to the Normandy region at the age of 5, Monet developed an interest in art beginning in early childhood as he began to sketch and caricaturize the people around him (“Claude Monet Autobiography”). Following the death of his mother in 1857, Monet became locally known among the local residents and met Eugene Boudin who introduced “en plein air,” or outdoor, techniques around 1856/1857 while introducing Monet to landscapes (“Claude Monet Autobiography”).
With his muse and lover who eventually became his wife, Camille Doncieux, and their child, Monet fled to London, England, following the outbreak of Franco-Prussian War, where Monet met his first art dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel. The Monet family returned to Paris following the end of the war in 1872 (“Claude Monet Autobiography”). Monet’s signature technique began to emerge as Monet joined forces with other artists to form the Societe Anonyme des Artistes, Peintres, Sculpteurs, Graveurs (“Claude Monet Autobiography”). Following an exhibition presented by the society in 1874, critics applied the title of one of Monet’s 1873 works, “Impression, Sunrise” to label the artists as the ‘impressionist’ and an art movement began (“Claude Monet Autobiography”).
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Monet and the other impressionist artists presented a technique that moved away from the evenness and blended colors associated with classical art as the newly emerging form applied the use of strong colors applied with bold, short brushstrokes (“Claude Monet Autobiography”). Monet moved the impressionist art form forward through the use of elements of industry in his landscapes, making it more mainstream (“Claude Monet Autobiography”).
Following the death of Camille, he eventually remarried and attained critical and financial success during the 1880s and 1890s (“Claude Monet Autobiography”). However, he experienced periods of depression and self-doubt, which increased following the 1911 death of Alice, his second wife (“Claude Monet Autobiography”). Compounded with health issues as his eyesight started to fail as he developed cataracts in 1912, he began a final series of paintings, focusing on water lilies, which became an obsession as his depression increased and continued until his death on 05 December 1926 (“Claude Monet Autobiography”). Monet left a lasting mark on the art world through his involvement in the impressionist movement which serves to mark his legacy.
- Claude Monet Biography. Biography.com. Web. 22 December 2014. Available at http://www.biography.com/people/claude-monet-9411771#synopsis
