Claude Monet Biography and the Impressionist Style

Claude Monet felt that  life should be recorded in a vibrant modern style. He  preferred the landscape, and water in particular, seascapes, the Seine River, and later his garden pond at Giverny.  He declared "For me, a landscape does not exist in its own right, since its appearance changes at every moment; but the surrounding atmosphere brings it to life - the light and the air which vary continually. For me, it is only the surrounding atmosphere which gives subjects their true value."

Monet was at his best painting outdoors in the early morning hours. He was a master at capturing the overall impression of a scene through effects created by using light and color in diverse ways. Post-Impressionist painter Paul Gauguin famously stated ""Monet is just an eye - but God, what an eye!"

Monet liked to work outside, observing nature directly and record fleeting atmospheric effects with his brush. The Impressionist painters rebelled against the academic organizations that controlled the French art world with an iron fist.  The movement began with Monet. According to French Art Historian Camille Mauclair, "The very name "Impressionism" is due to Claude Monet. There has been much serious arguing upon this famous word which has given rise to all sorts of definitions and conclusions. In reality this is its curious origin which is little known, even in criticism. Ever since 1860 the works of Manet and of his friends caused such a stir, that they were rejected en bloc by the Salon jury of 1863. The emperor, inspired by a praiseworthy, liberal thought, demanded that these innovators should at least have the right to exhibit together in a special room which was called the Salon des Refusés. The public crowded there to have a good laugh. One of the pictures which caused most derision was a sunset by Claude Monet, entitled Impressions. From this moment the painters who adopted more or less the same manner were called Impressionists. The word remained in use, and Manet and his friends thought it a matter of indifference whether this label was attached to them, or another. At this despised Salon were to be found the names of Manet, Monet, Whistler, Bracquemont, Jongkind, Fantin-Latour, Renoir, Legros, and many others who have since risen to fame. Universal ridicule only fortified the friendships and resolutions of this group of men, and from that time dates the definite foundation of the Impressionist school."

Claude Monet believed that light was inseparable from the object it illuminated, so to capture the light at a precise moment, he worked from direct observation.  Monet executed his dazzling paintings with bold strokes and graceful applications of color. He explored in his art a new world of passion and vibrancy, but with a expressiveness and profound understanding of color.

In the early part of his career Claude Monet became infamous for his art - at the time Impressionism was loathed by most critics and public alike, as outrageous and unseemly and revolutionary. The artist famously quipped "People discuss my art and pretend to understand as if it were necessary to understand, when it's simply necessary to love."

 Claude Monet Art Quotations

One day Boudin said to me, "Learn to draw well and appreciate the sea, the light, the blue sky." I took his advice. -- Claude Monet Quote
 

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