claude monet (1840-1926)

Oscar-Claude Monet was the founding father of French Impressionist painting. He was the most reliable and creative expert of the movement's philosophy of articulating one's perceptions before nature, specifically as applied to plain-air landscape painting.

​“Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love.” -Claude Monet-

Born: November 14, 1840, 9th arrondissement of Paris, Paris, France
Died: December 5, 1926, Giverny, France
Periods: Impressionism, Modern art, Realism

​I would love to share the article below about the Biography of  Claude Monet from claude-monet.com. Enjoy and comment your thoughts away :)
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   Claude Monet is considered as one of the founders of the French Impressionist art movement in the 1870s. Indeed the movement's name, Impressionism, is derived from his famous painting Impression, Sunrise. In many sense, Claude Monet is the quintessential Impressionist painter. The spontaniety and vivacity of his painting technique and his devotion to the close observation of nature have been the focus of most discussions of his art. 
      Claude Monet was born on November 14, 1840, in the city of Paris, France. He founded the Impressionism art movement, as inspired by his painting entitled Impression, Sunrise. His childhood was largely spent in Paris, and he was inspired by his mother to appreciate music and the arts.
      In 1851, Monet attended the Le Havre, where he took up drawing classes, as well as commerce. While in school, he would often find himself going outdoors, particularly the Le Havre port, Sainte-Adresse cliffs and the beach. He adored nature, and it was where he gained inspiration from his drawings and sketches.
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     Francais-Charles Ochard taught him the basics of drawing. He was a patient teacher, and he gained much respect from his students. In fact, it was this teacher who inspired Monet to draw for hours. Some of his sketches included boats, people, landscapes and even caricatures of his teachers. With his exceptional talent in drawing, he became quite popular in school and charged for his portraits that people bought from him. In addition, his caricatures were exhibited at Gravier's shop. 

      Eventually, Monet met with Monsieur Eugene Boudin, who was a friend of Gravier. Boudin became his mentor, and he was 16 years old when he first took lessons from him. Monet learned and mastered how to use oils and pastels in his paintings. He used these tools to create the right colors that would best depict the beauty of the outside world. 

claude monet paintings, drawings

     It was Boudin who gave Monet an opportuity to perform en plain air or open air painting. He began painting landscapes, with "View from Rouelles" as his very first landscape painting that was exhibited in 1858. The painting was also called as the Vue des bords de la Lezarde as it featured the stream and valley of the Lezarde or the Rouelles. 

     In 1859, Monet travelled to Paris and visited the Palais de l'Industrie, where he met a few artists including Lhuillier, Monginot, Tryon and Gautier. He also decided to settle in Paris where he enrolled in the Academie Suisse. It was here where the artist became acquainted with Gustave Courbet and Camille Pissarro. Monet became preoccupied with drawing figures, which were apparent in some of his artworks.

    In 1862, Monet joined Charles Gleyre's studio, a Swiss painter. He remained there for two years, and he met fellow artists such as Alfred Sisley, Frederic Bazille and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Together, they painted various artworks that presented the effects of en plain air, although they all had several novel approaches to art. However, what was distinct about their works was the use of rapid brushstrokes and broken color. These qualities are the main features of the art style known as impressionism. To read the full article, please visit www.claude-monet.com

Claude monte quotes

“I must have flowers, always, and always.” 

“Color is my daylong obsession, joy, and torment.” 

“Every day 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.” 

“Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love.” 

“My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece” 

“I would like to paint the way a bird sings.” 

“the more I live, the more I regret how little i know” 

“It's on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way. So we must dig and delve unceasingly.” 

“I'm not performing miracles, I'm using up and wasting a lot of paint...”

“The richness I achieve comes from nature, the source of my inspiration. ” 

“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.” 

“I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.” 

“What keeps my heart awake is colorful silence.” 

“If the world really looks like that I will paint no more!” 

“I can only draw what I see.” 

“I get madder and madder on giving back what I feel.” 

“I don’t think I’m made for any earthly kind of pleasure.” 

“I want to paint the way a bird sings.” 

“…Every day I discover even more beautiful things. It is intoxicating me, and I want to paint it all - my head is bursting…” 

“The further I get, the more I regret how little I know…” 

“Impression — I was certain of it. I was just telling myself that, since I was impressed, there had to be some impression in it … and what freedom, what ease of workmanship! Wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished than that seascape.” 

“No one but myself knows the anxiety I go through and the trouble I give myself…” 

“I must have flowers, always and always.” 

“I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers”