Claude Monet

Impressionism

A critic coined the name mockingly: the painters proudly adopted it.

💡 Did you know? The name „Impressionism“ arose as a critic's jibe at Monet's painting „Impression, Sunrise.“

outdoor painting (en plein air)

Monet painted almost entirely outdoors, to capture light and weather right in front of the motif.

💡 Did you know? For his huge water-lily pictures he even had a floating studio boat built.

light / atmosphere

Monet cared less about objects themselves than about the light and atmosphere of a moment.

💡 Did you know? „For me a subject exists only in its surrounding of light and air,“ said Monet.

series of the same subject

Monet painted the same subject (haystacks, cathedral, water lilies) often dozens of times at different times of day and year.

💡 Did you know? He wanted to see how light changes a subject hour by hour.

water lilies

The huge water-lily pictures are regarded as pioneers of modern painting.

💡 Did you know? At Giverny Monet laid out a vast water garden with a Japanese bridge: expressly to paint it again and again.

1926

Monet died in 1926 at 86 in Giverny, nearly blind from cataracts, yet painting his water lilies to the last.

💡 Did you know? In old age he saw colours differently because of cataracts.

Impression, Sunrise

Around 1872: this picture gave Impressionism its name.

💡 Did you know? This picture of a misty harbour gave the whole movement its name in 1874.

Water Lilies

His most important late subject, from the garden at Giverny.

💡 Did you know? Monet made over 250 water-lily paintings: the largest today adorn purpose-built oval rooms in Paris.

Rouen Cathedral Series

A series of the same façade in countless lighting moods.

💡 Did you know? Monet painted the same façade over 30 times: each in different light, from dawn grey to sunset.

Garden at Sainte-Adresse

Painted around 1867.

💡 Did you know? A luminous early work by the sea, showing Monet's father and relatives.

Woman with a Parasol

Painted around 1886.

💡 Did you know? Monet's wife Camille stands against the sky: painted in a few hours like a snapshot.

Women in the Garden

Painted around 1866.

💡 Did you know? For the large open-air picture Monet dug a trench to lower the huge canvas and paint it outdoors.

Haystacks

Monet's series of haystacks shows the same ricks in dozens of lighting moods.

💡 Did you know? A haystack picture sold in 2019 for 110 million dollars: a record for Monet.

Woman in the Garden

Painted around 1867.

💡 Did you know? An early open-air picture full of dappled sunlight and blooming beds.

Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe

Painted around 1865.

💡 Did you know? Monet's huge early work: a homage to Manet that he never quite finished.

La Grenouillère

Painted around 1869.

💡 Did you know? At this bathing spot Monet and Renoir painted side by side: the birth hour of Impressionism.

Regatta at Sainte-Adresse

Painted around 1867.

💡 Did you know? Sailboats and glittering water: here Monet practised early on capturing moving light.

Claude Monet

Claude Monet (1840 to 1926) was a French painter and the leading figure of Impressionism, whose picture „Impression, Sunrise“ gave the movement its name.

💡 Did you know? Monet painted into old age even as cataracts clouded his sight: making the last water-lily pictures look almost abstract.