Claude Monet

About the Artist

Claude Monet was born in Le Havre, Normandy, France in 1840 and died in 1926; he was an Impressionist painter and a leading figure of the movement centered in France. He is regarded as a pioneer of Impressionism who laid the foundation for modern art through his attempts to capture nature as he saw it. Monet's body of work is notable for precisely capturing the changes of light and nature and for valuing "plein air" painting done outdoors. He developed a method of repeatedly painting the same scene at different times of day and under different lighting conditions to express the flow of light. His masterpiece "Impression, Sunrise" gave rise to the term "Impressionism." His "Water Lilies" series and "Rouen Cathedral" series are large-scale works he concentrated on in the latter part of his life, clearly showing his philosophy of exploring changes in light and time.