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Claude Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet was born on the 14th of November 1840, on the fifth floor of 45 rue Laffitte in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, yet his destiny was forged in the coastal town of Le Havre. His father, Claude-Adolphe, a wholesale merchant, wanted him to take over the family's ship-chandling and grocery business, but the young Monet found himself drawn to the outdoors and drawing from an early age. By the age of 15, he was already selling caricatures and portraits of acquaintances to make money, a skill that caught the eye of Eugène Boudin. Boudin became his master, teaching him the concept of plein air painting and taking him on excursions that would define his future. When his mother, Louise-Justine Aubrée Monet, died in January 1857, leaving him at sixteen, he was sent to live with his childless, widowed but wealthy aunt, Marie-Jeanne Lecadre. This aunt would become a crucial source of support, allowing him to pursue his art when his father refused to fund his ambitions. The early years were marked by a struggle between the practical world of commerce and the vibrant, fleeting world of light that Monet saw everywhere.
The War That Changed His Vision
On the 2nd of March 1861, the 20-year-old Monet was conscripted into the army, a decision that would inadvertently save his career. His family could have paid the 2,500 francs for a substitute, but Monet refused to renounce his artistic career to take over the family business. He enlisted for seven years with the 1st Regiment of Chasseurs d'Afrique, crossing into Algeria in June 1861. It was here, in the vivid light of North Africa, that he found the gem of his future researches. The light and colors of the country intoxicated him, putting lead in his head and giving him the full approval of his family. In the spring of 1862, he contracted typhoid fever and was allowed to return to Le Havre to recuperate. While there, he met Eugène Boudin again and was discharged from the army on the 21st of November 1862. The experience in Algeria was so powerful that he later told Gustave Geffroy it did him the greatest good in every way. This period of exile and the subsequent return to Paris marked a turning point, as he began to reject the academic teachings of Charles Gleyre's studio in favor of a more direct, unfiltered approach to nature.
The Series That Defined A Movement
In 1874, Monet displayed a painting titled Impression, Sunrise at the First Impressionist Exhibition, an event he helped organize as an alternative to the official Salon. The art critic Louis Leroy wrote a hostile review, taking particular notice of this hazy depiction of Le Havre port and coining the term Impressionism to mock the group. The term was initially ironic, denoting the painting as unfinished, but it stuck. Monet priced Impression, Sunrise at 1,000 francs, but failed to sell it. The exhibition was open to anyone prepared to pay 60 francs, giving artists the opportunity to show their work without the interference of a jury. This was the birth of a movement that rejected the dark, contrasting lighting of romantic and realist paintings in favor of pale tones and the depiction of modern life. Monet gained a reputation as the foremost landscape painter of the group, and his work would go on to influence a generation of artists. The term Impressionism, born from a critic's insult, became the name of a revolution in painting that sought to capture the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere.
Oscar-Claude Monet was born on the 14th of November 1840, on the fifth floor of 45 rue Laffitte in the 9th arrondissement of Paris.
What event saved Claude Monet's career in 1861?
The 20-year-old Monet was conscripted into the army on the 2nd of March 1861, which inadvertently saved his career by preventing him from taking over the family business.
Why did Louis Leroy coin the term Impressionism in 1874?
The art critic Louis Leroy wrote a hostile review of the painting Impression, Sunrise at the First Impressionist Exhibition to mock the group and denote the painting as unfinished.
How did Claude Monet use his garden in Giverny?
Monet rented a house and gardens in Giverny in 1883 and used the water lilies as his greatest source of inspiration for 40 years to create his most ambitious sequence of paintings.
When did Claude Monet die and how old was he?
Monet died of lung cancer on the 5th of December 1926 at the age of 86 and is buried in the Giverny church cemetery.
In 1883, Monet and his family rented a house and gardens in Giverny, which provided him with the domestic stability he had not enjoyed up to that time. The house was situated near the main road between the towns of Vernon and Gasny, and it included a barn that doubled as a painting studio. As his wealth grew, his garden evolved into his greatest source of inspiration for 40 years. He purchased additional land with a water meadow and planted white water lilies local to France along with imported cultivars from South America and Egypt. In 1902, he increased the size of his water garden by nearly 4000 square metres, installing easels all around to allow different perspectives to be captured. Monet wrote daily instructions to his gardener, precise designs and layouts for plantings, and invoices for his floral purchases. He remained its architect, even after he hired seven gardeners. The garden became the subject of his most ambitious sequence of paintings, the water lilies, which occupied him for the last 20 years of his life. The pond was enlarged in 1901 and 1910, and the paintings evolved with the changes made to his garden, moving from rectangular stretchers to square and then circular ones.
The Fog That Shrouded London
Monet, who had already visited London in 1870, 1871, made a first six-week stay in London in September 1899, accompanied by Alice and Germaine Hoschedé. They stayed in a suite on the 6th floor of the prestigious Savoy Hotel, which offered spectacular views of the Thames and south London. Monet was invigorated by this visit, commenting, I so love London! But I love it only in winter, for without the fog London wouldn't be a beautiful city. It's the fog that gives it its magnificent breadth. During their stay, the Monets became friends with English hostess and patron of the arts Mary Hunter, who introduced them to her social circle. Monet returned to the same hotel for two more stays, in February and March 1900 and from January to March 1901. The latter visit was ended by pleurisy, which forced Monet to spend three weeks in his hotel room without being able to paint. During his stays, he painted Waterloo Bridge early in the morning at sunrise, then Charing Cross Bridge in the afternoon. It was during his second stay that he began to paint the Houses of Parliament, from St Thomas' Hospital in the late afternoon and at sunset. Into total Monet produced a series that included 41 paintings of Waterloo bridge, 34 of Charing Cross bridge and 19 of the House of Parliament. The paintings continued to be retouched in the studio until 1904, and the series Views of the Thames in London was exhibited in May and June 1904.
The Eyes That Saw A New World
Monet's second wife, Alice, died in 1911, and his oldest son, Jean, who had married Alice's daughter, Blanche, died in 1914. Their deaths left Monet depressed, and it was during this time that he began to develop the first signs of possible cataracts. In 1913, Monet travelled to London to consult the German ophthalmologist Richard Liebreich. He was prescribed new glasses and rejected cataract surgery for the right eye. The next year, Monet, encouraged by Clemenceau, made plans to construct a new, large studio that he could use to create a decorative cycle of paintings devoted to the water garden. In the following years, his perception of color suffered; his broad strokes were broader and his paintings were increasingly darker. To achieve his desired outcome, he began to label his tubes of paint, kept a strict order on his palette and wore a straw hat to negate glare. He approached painting by formulating the ideas and features in his mind, taking the motif in large masses and transcribing them through memory and imagination. This was due to him being insensitive to the finer shades of tonalities and colors seen close up. Persistent cyanopsia and aphakic spectacles proved to be a struggle. Now able to see the real colours, he began to destroy canvases from his pre-operative period. Upon receiving tinted Zeiss lenses, Monet was laudatory, although his left eye soon had to be entirely covered by a black lens. By 1925, his visual impairment was improved and he began to retouch some of his pre-operative works, with bluer water lilies than before.
The Final Breath Of A Legend
Monet died of lung cancer on the 5th of December 1926 at the age of 86 and is buried in the Giverny church cemetery. He had insisted that the occasion be simple; thus, only about fifty people attended the ceremony. At his funeral, Clemenceau removed the black cloth draped over the coffin, stating: No black for Monet! and replaced it with a flower-patterned cloth. At the time of his death, Waterlilies was technically unfinished. Monet's home, garden, and water lily pond were bequeathed by Michel to the French Academy of Fine Arts in 1966. Through the Fondation Claude Monet, the house and gardens were opened for visits in 1980, following restoration. In addition to souvenirs of Monet and other objects of his life, the house contains his collection of Japanese woodcut prints, which had a pronounced influence on his art. The house and garden, along with the Museum of Impressionism, are major attractions in Giverny, which hosts tourists from all over the world. His legacy as the most famous of the Impressionists was cemented in the second half of the 20th century when he became one of the world's most famous painters and a source of inspiration for a burgeoning group of artists. His work has been examined in relation to postmodernism and influenced Bazille, Sisley, Renoir, and Pissarro, exerting a huge influence on late 19th-century art.