Claude Monet: The Star of Impressionism

At present, hardly any Impressionist is more popular than Claude Monet. The well-known painter came to fame and eminence due to his artistic talent, his spirit of innovation, and the devoted promotional activities of a committed art dealer.

Childhood

Born in Paris in 1840, Claude Monet grew up in a lower-middle-class family in Le Havre, a port town on the French Normandy coast. Preferring to spend his leisure time by the shore, he regularly skipped school to sojourn at the seaside. Monet accidentally discovered his drawing ability at the age of fifteen, when he started creating caricatures of his teachers and other prominent people from the region. He eventually sold his works at a frame store to increase his pocket money and even became a respected caricaturist in Le Havre over time. An encounter with painter Eugène Boudin can be identified as the next milestone in his career, as Boudin took him along when painting on shore and likewise introduced him to plein air painting (painting outdoors rather than in a studio, which was the common practice at that time).

Paris

As a result of his increasing interest in painting, Monet moved to Paris to study art in 1859, where he met similar minded painters such as Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, and Édouard Manet. The group regularly gathered for outdoor painting sessions in the woods of Fontainebleau as well as on the Norman coast. In 1865, the prestigious Salon de Paris, by then the spotlight of the French art scene, accepted two of Monet’s works. That same year, Monet met his future wife Camille — “The Woman in a Green Dress,” a portrait of her, likewise shown at the Salon, received thoroughly positive critiques. One year later, in 1867, Camille gave birth to their eldest son, Jean.

The couple got married in June 1870, however, due to the outbreak of the Franco-German war, they had to leave for London to stay in exile. It was in the British capital where Monet made the acquaintance of Paul Durand-Ruel, a passionate French art dealer who was later to fundamentally transform his career. Monet returned to France and moved to Argenteuil of the Île-de-France region with his family after the war.

The Impressionists

Monet now increasingly painted together with his like-minded artist friends: Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Paul Cézanne, and Berthe Morisot. They all shared an interest in the extensive study of light and its effects on nature. However, since their newly developed, unconventional style of painting by no means met prevailing academic demands, their works were continuously rejected by the Salon. The group nevertheless took fate into their own hands by arranging their first independent exhibition in 1874. The term Impressionists derived from Monet’s work “Impression, Sunrise” (1872); an art critic had coined it in a satiric article reflecting on the exhibition -> Read more about the Impressionists here.

Private Life

In March 1878, Monet’s second son, Michel, was born, and the Monet family moved to Vétheuil, an introspective village near Paris. Just one and a half years later, on September 5, 1879, Camille died of abdominal cancer. Her death undoubtedly marked a low point in the artist’s life. Fortunately, however, his emotional state began improving again in the coming years. Durand-Ruel, the art dealer whom Monet had met during his stay in the United Kingdom, intensively began promoting him through regular purchases and exhibition activities. In 1883, Durand-Ruel arranged a solo Monet exhibition for the first time — with immensely positive response.  

Giverny and the Invention of Serial Paintings

At the age of 43, Monet moved to a country cottage with an extensive flower garden in Giverny, a municipality in the Normandy region. It was there that he started painting series of certain subjects: water lilies, haystacks, poplar trees, and so forth. Each of these series paintings portrays a unique lighting atmosphere, weather situation, and time of day or season (see images below).
Monet eventually married Alice Hoschedé, a former housemate and friend, in 1892.

Success

Thanks to his promoter and patron, Durand-Ruel, Monet became increasingly successful throughout the following years. Moreover, the passionate art dealer opened a gallery in New York, displaying numerous canvases on-site. An exhibition of Monet’s haystacks series, for instance, became a huge success within the American art society. Furthermore, the Biennale of Venice in 1897, where twenty of Monet’s works were exhibited, can undoubtedly be described as another highlight of his career. Monet by then had become a popular and well-recognized painter. However, the sentiment worsened in May 1912, when his second wife, Alice, died. It was the same year that Monet was diagnosed with double-ended cataracts, an eye disease gradually limiting his sight.

On August 3, 1914, France entered World War I. In the following year, Monet began painting the colossal water lily monuments he later donated to the French state — on the occasion of the “Armistice of Compiègne,” the ceasefire contract signed between the Allies and Germany in November 1918.

Final Years

In 1921, when Monet was 81, Durand-Ruel hosted a major Monet retrospective. At that time, his eyesight had become so poor that he decided to stop painting. In 1923, however, two operations restored his sight and he began painting once again. On December 5, 1926, the eminent artist died at the age of 86.

Today

Currently, seemingly no Impressionist is more recognized than Claude Monet. In 2019, one of his haystack works sold for $110.7 million at Sotheby’s auction house in New York, an all-time auction high for Impressionist artwork.

What Makes Monet so Special

What is it, however, that makes Monet outstanding and special among the Impressionists? First and foremost, it was his piece “Impression, Sunrise” (1872) that gave the versatile nineteenth-century art movement its name (read more about the origin of Impressionism here). Monet can also be described as the most prolific and resolute practitioner of the philosophy of portraying the atmosphere felt in nature by applying quick and visible brushstrokes. Moreover, it was the popular artist himself who developed the groundbreaking concept of painting series works, depicting water lilies, poplar trees, and haystacks in different lighting and weather conditions. However, it must be noted that without the extraordinary promotion and support of the Impressionists’ major benefactor, Paul Durand-Ruel, Monet’s fame might possibly not have reached the level it has today.