‘Summary of Claude Monet Claude Monet was the leader ofthe French impressionist mavemert, iteraly giving the movement its name. AS an inspirational talent and personality, he Was crucial n bringing its adherents together. Interested In panting inthe open alr and capturing natural light, Monet would lator bring the technique to one ofits most famous pinnacles with his series paintings, in which his observations ofthe same subject, viewed at various times of the day, were captured in numerous sequences, Masterful as a colorist and as a painter of light and atmosphere, his later work often achieved a remarkable degree of abstraction, and this has recommended hi to subsequent generations of abstract painters. Accomplishments Inspired in part by Edouard Manet, Manet departed from the clear depiction of forms and linear perspective, which ware prescribed by the established art ofthe time, and experimented with lose handling, bold color, and strikingly unconventional compositions. The emphasis in his pictures shifted from representing figures to depicting different quali of ight and atmosphere in each scene. Inhis later years, Monet also became increasingly sensitive to the decorative qualities of color and form, He began to apply paint in emaller strokes, building it up in broad fields of color, and exploring the possibiltes of a decorative paint surface of harmonias and contrasts of color. ‘The effects that he achieved, particularly in the series paintings of the 1890s, representa remarkable advance lowards abstraction and towards ‘a modern painting focused purely on surface fects. ‘An inspiration and a leader among the Impressionists, he was crucial in attracting Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alred Silay, Edouard ‘Manel ané Camille Pissario to work alongside each other in and around Pars. He was also impacant in establishing the exhibition society that would showcase the group's work between 1874 and 1886, The Life of Claude Monet From the theoretical and crtical battles with the emerging Impressionist in Paris, tothe later ove of spending his time outdoors studying light, Monet was driven al his fe by his passions. As he said "| am good at only twa things, and those are gardening and painting.” Read full biography Read artistic legacy Important Art by Claude Monetsoo: Women in the Garden Women in the Gardon was painted at Vile 'Avray using his future wife Camile as the only model. The goal of ths largeescale work (100" by 81"), while meticulously composed, was to render the effects of rue autsoor light, rather than regard conventions of modeling (or drapery. From the ickers of sunlight tha pierce the foliage ofthe reas to delicate shadows and the warm flesh tones that can be ‘sven through his model's sleeve, Monet detals the behavior of natural light in the scene. In January 1867, his fiend and fellow Impressionist Frederic Bazile purchased the work for the sum of 2,500 francs in order ta help Monet out of the extreme debt that he \was suffering from at tne time. il on canvas - Musée d'Orsay, Paris 4871 Westminster Bridge (aka The Thames below Westminster) Painted on the Embankment in London, Monet's Westminster Bridge is ane ofthe finest examples of his work during the ime he and his family wore in wartime refuge. This simplo, asymmetncal composition is balanced by the horzonlal bridge, the boats floating upon the waves with the vertical wharf and ladder in the foreground. The entire scene is dominated by a layer of mist containing violet, gold pink, {and green, creating @ dense atmosphere that renders the architecture in distant, blurred shapes. Oil on canvas - The National Cater, LondonBoulevard des Capucines Boulevard des Capucines captures a scene ofthe hustle and bustle of Parisian life from the studio of Monet's friend, the photographer Fol Nadar. Applying very litle deta, Monet uss shor, quick brushstrokes to create the “Impression” of poople in the city ave with ‘movement. Cite Leroy was nat pleased with these abstracted crowds, describing them as “lack tongue-ickings.” Monet painted two views from this location, with this one looking towards the Place de TOpera. The frst Impressionist exhibition was held in Nadar's sto, ‘and rather appropriately, Monet included this piace in the show. lon canvas - Nolson-Atkins Musoum, Kansas City, USA 18 Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son ‘One of Monet's most popular figure paintings, Lady with @ Parasol showcases the woman's accessory. The parasol self makes many appearances in his work, prmarly because when panting from real life outdoors, most women would use one to protect ther skin and ‘yee. But the abject algo creates a contrast of igh! ane shadows on the figures face and clothing, indicating which diction the actual lights coming rom. Quite uniguely, Manet paints into the light letting the modes features fade int the shadow. Most artists would avoid such a positioning oftheir subject as it's ifcutto reproduce any detall- and even to look at your subject. But Monet is Interested in light itself, and captures itn the scene in an unmatched way. ion canvas - The National Gallory of Art, Washington DC1878 ‘The Rue Montorgu in Paris. Colobration of June 30th, 1878 Historians and scientists believe that Monet happened upon discoveries in vision and optics. Professor lan Aaronson believes that ‘Monet was endowed with hyper-senskive visual abies where he could notice thing that most people would miss. For example, in this Work if one ware to look at the way the lags themselvas are painted, thay look quite blurry and unclear, But when the viewer looks down atthe crowd, the flags seem to wave in peripheral vision (best to ty this on the real painting, nota reproduction). As in this example, ‘Monet seems to have come upon several particularities of vision, and painterly effects, that were not properly proved by science for ‘many years after his death. Oil on canvas - Musée dOrsay, Paris 1804 Rouen Cathedral: The Facade at Sunset Monet's Roven Cathedral: The Facade at Sunsot series is one of his most renowned. He painted the cathedral at diferent times of day to explore the effects of cfferent light during winter. The bumt orange and blue appearance ofthe cathedral dominates the canvas, with only scattered views of sky athe top, Layered over the top of the Gothic structure, the brushstrokes play withthe ight and aimosphere fon the stones, and the details on their carved surfaces. In 1898, he exhibited twenty Cathedrals at the Ourand-Ruel Gallery tat were both ertcized and praised by viewers that ethor strugglad with or championed his aristc, scionttic, and poetic imovations. Ae art Fistorian Madalena Dabrowski wrote: "he ste is [only] a reference point, buts transformed and conditioned by light, color, and Monet's ‘own vision." Painting in a series, or making any kind of artwork wit subtle changes from one piece tothe next has been a staple of madem art for‘many artists, from Andy Warhol to the Minimalist, to Conceptual artists. Not only has it been a way for artists to explore subtle difference between subjects, but some artists reference Monet directly in thelr series works. on canvas - Museums of Fine Arts, Boston Water Lilies ‘The Nymphéas cycle isa part of Monet's water landscape group thal he stared working on in the late 1890s. As explained on the Musée de lOrangerla website: the word nymphéa comes trom the Greek word numphé, meaning nymph, which takes its name from the Classical myth that attributes the bith of the flower to a nymph who was dying of love for Hercules, Infact, itis also a scientfic term for awatertiy, This series eccupied Monet unti his death 30 years later and includes dazens of canvases creating a panorama of water, Illes, and sky in is studio inspired by his Giverny garden. The most famous ofthis series are the eight large panels of Water Lilies that are installed in two eliptical rooms ofthe L'Orangeris museum in Pari, ‘Monet describes his goals forthe project: "Imagine a circular room, whose walls are eniely filed by a horizon of water spotted with these plants. Walls of transparency - sometimes green, sometimes verging on mauve, The silence and calm of the water reflecting the ‘lowering dsplay; the tones are vague, deliciously nuanced, as delicate as a dream.” ‘The ultimate instalation is considered to be one ofthe greatest achievement of Monet, Impressionism, and even 20"-century at. The lighting and setup in the museum maximizes the viewers’ experience next to these works, providing, as Monet said, an “illusion of an ‘endless whole, ofa wave with no harizon and ne shore". These works wauld be enormously influential for many arts, but the allover composition would particularly inspire the Abstract Expressionist lagesscale carwases of The New York School il on canvas - Musée de Orangerle, Paris Biography of Claude Monet Childhood Bom in Paris, Oscar Claude Monet moved at the age of five to Le Havre, a seaside town in northern Franc. His father was a successful grocer ‘hal later turned to shipping. His mother died when he was 15. The ocean and rugged coastline of Northern France had a profound effect an him at an early ago, and he would often run away fom schoo! to go for walks along the cliffs and beaches, As a youth, he received instruction at the CCallege du Havre from a former pupil ofthe famous Neo-Classical artist Jacaues+ouls David. Crealive and enterprising from an early age, he ‘Grew caricatures in his spare time and sold them for 20 francs apiece. Capitalizing on his early aptitude for art, he managed to save a good bit of ‘money from his art sales. Early Training A pivotal experionce occurred in 1866 when Monet became fiends with Eugéne Boudin, a landscape paintor famous for his scones of northern French coastal towns. Boudin encouraged him to paint outdoors, and this en plein air technique changed Monet's concept of how art could be ‘created: "It was as fa vell was tom from my eyes; | had understood, I grasped what painting could be." Despite being rected fora scholarship, in 1859 Monet moved to Paris to study with help from his family. However, instead of choosing the more ‘customary career path of a Salon painter by enrolling atthe Ecole des BeauxcArs, Monet attended the more avant-garde Académie Suisse, here he met fellow artist Camille Pissarro, Mature PeriodCObtiged to serve in the miltary, in 1861 Monet was sent to Algiers. Like Eugéne Delacroix before him, the north African envronment stimulated Monet and affected his artistic and porsonal autlook. Coming home to Le Havre aftor his servic his “nal education of the eyo" was provided by the Dutch landscape and marine ast Johan Jongkind Following this, Monet again left for Paris, attending the studio of Swiss artist Charles Gleyre, which included such ‘studonts~ and future Impressionists - as Pierre-Auguste Renorr, Frédéric Bazila and Alltad Sisley. In 1865, the Paris Salon accepted two of Monet's seascapes for exibition, However, the artist was feeling confined by working n a studio, preferring his earlier experience of painting in nature, so he moved jus outside Pars ta the ‘edge of tho Fontainableau forest. Using his future wife, Camillo Doncioux, as hs Sole modol, his ambiiously large Women inthe Garden (1866-67) was a culmination ofthe ideas and themes in his earlier work, Monet was hopeful that the work would be included in the Paris Salon, but his siyle kept him at odds with the jurors and the picture was refused, leaving the artist devastated. The offical salon at this time stil valued Romarticsr. (In 1924, to ‘assuage the 60-year-old insult, Monet mado the French government purchase the painting forthe enormous sum of 200,000 franes.) To escape the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, Monet took reluge in London, praducing many scenes such as Westminster Bridge (1871), His wife and their new baby boy Jean joined him. He visited London museums and saw the works of John Constable and J.M.W. Turner, whose romantic naturalism clearly influenced his use of lght. Most important, he met Paul Durand-Ruel, who ran a new modem art galery on Bond Sect Durend-Ruel became a major supporter of Monet ang Pissarro, and fater Renoir, Degas, and other French Impressionist, Returning to France after the war, Monet settled his family in Argenteul, a suburb of Pars along the Seine River, Over the next six years he eveloped his style and documented the changes in the growing town in aver 150 canvases, His presence also atracted Parisian friends including Renoir and Manet, While Manet was 10 years older and became an established artist much earlier than Monet, by the 1870s cach Inluenced the other in significant ways, and Monet had euecesstully won Manet over to plein ar panting by 1874, In a continued effort to pratest the salon system, Monet and his friends orgarized their own exhibition in 1874, held inthe vacated studlo of photographer and carcaturist Nacar. This became known asthe first Impressionist exhibition. These artists, including Renoir, Degas, and Pissarro, were the frst artists to collectively respond to the changes in their city, The modernization of Paris was evident in the wider boulevards needed to accommodate the expanding fashions of public Ife and growing trafic of consumerism. Not only was their subject matter new, but the way they portrayed this realty was unique as well. Intuitive feeling and the essence of spontaneity of the mament, were impressed upon the canvas, kwas tough the 1873 work Impression, Sunrise that Monet inadvertently gave the movement is name, although that name was actually Intaly used by writers to crtcize these types of works. \While Monets upbringing was rather midole class, his extravagant tastes led him to ve much ofhis life in varying degrees of poverty and debt His paintings were not a decent source of income and he often had to borrow money from his Fiends. After receiving several commissions throughout the 1870s, Monet enjoyed some financial success, but was in dire straits by the end ofthe decade. In 1877, the Monet family was living in the town of Vetheull with Alice Hoschede and her six children, The Hoschede family were great fiends and patrons of Monet's work, bu the husband's business went bankrupt, and he ended up ‘abandoning his family, Thus, Monet had to find an Inexpensive house forthe large household, Camille gave bith to thelr ‘second son, Michelin 1878, But when Camille died about a year and a half late, there was a change in Monet's work, focusing more on the flux of experiential ime and the mediating effects of atmosphere and personality on subject matter, Alice continued tving wth Manet, and she became his second wife in 1892 (after Emest Hoschede passed away) In 1883, Monet was looking for @ house for Alice and their (combined) sight children, He happened on a property in a sleepy town called Giverny, that had a foal of 300 inhabitants. He fel in love with a house and garden that ho as able torent, and lator buy (and greatly expand) in 1890, The property at Giverny was Monet's p:imary inspiration forthe last three decades of his Ife. He created a Japanese garden for contemplation and relaxation, making a pond filed with ater lies with an arched bridge. He famously said: “My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece. | work at my garden all the time and with love. Whal I need most are flowers. ‘Always. My heart is forever in Givemy, pertaps | owe ito the flowers that | became a painter" Iwas at Giverny that Monet found his ulimate success, His palntings began to gelin the United States, England, and locally. He became quite the gentleman employing @ large staff in his house, including six gardeners that maintained his beloved garden and ily pond. Monet was less concerned with modernity in his works and more with atmosphere and environment, His series of grainstacks, painted at different times throughout the day, received c:tical aclaim from opinion-makers, buyers, andthe public when exhibited at Durand-Rue's gallery. He then ‘turned his sights te Rouen Cathedral, making similar studies ofthe elfecs of changing mood, igh, and almosphere on is facade at diferent times ‘ofthe day. The results were dozens of canvases of brian, slighty exaggerated colors that formed a visual record of accumulated perceptions. Late Years and Death Uttimately, Monet preferred to be alone with nature, creating his paintings rather than participating in theoretical or rtical battles within the artistic ‘and cultural scene of Paris, Whereas he traveled throughout the 1880s and 1890 to places fke London, Venice, Nonway, and around France -in1908 he settled for the remainder of his fein Giverny. The year 1911 saw the death of his second wife Alcs, fetlowed by the passing on of his son Jean. Shattered by those deaths, the ragings ofthe First World War, and von a cataract forming over one of his eyes, Monet essentially ceased to paint Ath time, the French statesman Georges Clemenceau whe happened to also be Monet fiend asked Monat to create an artwork that would lft the country out of the gloom of the Great War. AL fist, Monet said he was 100 ‘ld and not up to the task, but eventually Clemenceau lifted him out ofhis mourning by encouraging him to create a glorious artwork - what Monet called "the great decoration’. Monet conceived a continuous sequence ‘of watorscapes stuated in an oval salon as a world within 2 world. A new studio with a glass wal facing the ‘garden was bul for his purpose, and despite having cataracts (one of which he had surgically removed), Monet was able to move @ portable easel around to diferent places within the studio to capture he ever= changing light and perspective of his water ils. He cantinued to work on his water paintings right up unl the ond of his lif The Orangeris museum was ultimately bul with two elistcal rooms constructed to house Monet's water ies. ‘The al-over compositions of the canvases and the designed rooms allowed the viewer to feel as ifthey were within the water surounded by the foliage, The utimate installation was loved ay mary erties, and was most famously proclaimed "the Sistine Chapel of Impressionism by the Surrealist writer and arist Andre Masson, ‘The Legacy of Claude Monet ‘Monet's extraordinarily long fe and large artistic output beft the enormity of his cantemporary popularity. Impressionism, for which he sa pl Continues to be one of the most popular artistic movement as evidenced by its massive popular consumption inthe form of calendars, postcards, ‘and posters, Of course, Monet's paintings command top prices at auctions and some are considered priceless, in fact, Monet's work sin every ‘major museum worldwide. Even though his works are now canonized, for a numivr of years after Monet's death, he was only known in select cles of at lovers. The major renaissance of his work occurred in New York by the Ansiract Expressionists, Artists like Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock, an erties such a Clement Greenberg learned much from Monet's large canvases, and semi-abstract, all-over compositions. Pop artists also referred to Monet's haystacks in pieces Tike Andy Wahols repeating portals. Similarly, many Minimalsts used the same technique in ther serial eisplay of objects Infact, Impressionism and Monet are now consideree the basis forall of modern and contemporary at, and are thus quintessential to almost any historical survey Influences and Connections Artists Artists Q=- eo Friends & Personal Connections Friends & Personal Connections. Fy neta LQ eeeEmile Zola Movements & Ideas ose [By rotor Fy ners Movements & Ideas a @ ms Close