Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926) was a founding figure of the Impressionist movement, a painter whose lifelong devotion to capturing the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere revolutionized modern art. Born in Paris and raised in Le Havre, Monet began his artistic journey as a caricaturist before studying formally in Paris. His breakout came with Impression, Sunrise (1872), a painting that would lend its name to the entire Impressionist school - a term initially used derisively but later adopted and embraced.
Monet rejected the academic traditions of fine detail and historical subjects, instead turning his gaze to the rhythms of everyday life: gardens, rivers, haystacks, and cathedrals, rendered in broken brushstrokes and luminous color. His series of paintings - most notably of Rouen Cathedral, the Houses of Parliament, and his water lily pond in Giverny - demonstrated his obsessive interest in how light transforms the same subject over time and across seasons. A pioneer of plein-air painting, Monet worked outdoors to immerse himself in the natural world, a devotion that shaped his practice until his death.
By the end of his life, Monet's daring had redefined perception in art, paving the way for abstraction and influencing generations of painters. His legacy rests not only in the beauty of his canvases but in the radical belief that vision itself is worthy of portrayal.
