MONET Claude

Claude MONET (born 14 November 1840 in Paris) is a French painter and founder of Impressionism.

Born under the name of Oscar-Claude Monet, at 45 rue Laffitte in Paris, he grew up in Le Havre and was particularly diligent in drawing. He began his career as an artist by making portraits of the city's notables. In 1859, he went to Paris to try his luck on the advice of Eugene Boudin and thanks to the help of his aunt. After classes at the Swiss Academy then at Charles Gleyre and after his meeting with Johan Barthold Jongkind, all interspersed by military service in Algeria, Monet became notable for his paintings of Honfleur Bay. In 1866 he was successful at the Salon de peinture et de sculpture thanks to La Femme en robe verte representing Camille Doncieux whom he married in 1870. However, all this period is marked by great insecurity. He then fled the 1870 war in London and then in the Netherlands. In the English capital, he met art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel, who would be his main source of income for the rest of his career. Returning to France in 1871, he participated in the first exhibition of future Impressionists in 1874.

In 1876 he met Ernest Hoschedé, a patron who soon went bankrupt. In 1878 he, his family and Monet moved into a common house in Vetheuil. The death of Camille in 1879 and the numerous absences of Ernest, led to the rapprochement of Monet and Alice Hoschedé. In addition to painting intensively the Seine, Claude regularly visits the Norman coast to paint. In 1883 he, his two children and the Hoschedé family moved permanently to Giverny. It is from this period that his financial troubles end and a certain fortune begins that will only grow until the end of his existence. After moving in, he stayed in Bordighera, on the coast of Azur and then in Belle-Île-en-Mer.

From 1890, Monet devoted himself to series of paintings, that is, he painted the same pattern at different times of the day, in various seasons. He then sometimes paints dozens of canvases in parallel, changing according to the present effect. He began with Les Meules, then successively chained Les Peupliers, the Rouen Cathedral Series, the London Parliaments and the Nympheas of his garden, which he declined in large format to paint large decorations. Since 1903, Monet has been intensively involved in gardening. In 1908, he also painted in Venice but without making a series.

The end of her life is marked by Alice's death and a cataract disease, which affects her work. He died 86 years of lung cancer.

Monet painted in front of the model on the entire canvas from the first drafts, he then retouched many times until the result satisfied him. Contrary to what he says, he finishes most of his paintings in the workshop, modeling on the first paintings in a series to paint others.

With a sometimes difficult character, quick to anger and discouragement, Claude Monet is a great worker who does not hesitate to challenge the weather to practice his passion. Monet sums up his life in the best way: "What is to say about me? What can I ask you to say about a man who has nothing in the world but his painting - and also his garden and flowers? »