Claude Monet

Monet was born on November 14, 1850 in Paris. Originally baptized as Oscar-Claude Monet he shortened his name to accommodate his paintings. Monet is the founder of French impressionist painting which is characterized by small and thin but visible brush strokes and emphasis on light as it changes. Impressionism was coined by a critic of Monet's painting Impression, Sunrise.
From the time he was small Money wanted to be an artist. To fulfill his dream he attended Le Havre secondary school for the arts. Here, he was well known for his charcoal caricatures. Eugene Boudin taught Monet to paint in oils and use outdoor techniques for painting. Monet added lighting as his paintings evolved.
Monet shunned copying the old masters and would sit by windows and paint what he saw. He perfected his art after a two year stint in the army by completing a required art course. Disillusioned with traditional art, Monet looked to Charles Gleyre as a mentor. It was in Gleyre's studio he met Pierre-Auguste Renoir. They shared a similar approach to painting that included using the effect of light with broken color and rapid brushstrokes.
Monet's wife Camille Doncieux was the model for Woman in the Green Dress (1866). This painting brought Monet recognition and he continued to use Camille as a model for several of his famous paintings.
Monet moved from France to England to the Netherlands in a course of several years. During his travels he painted twenty-five paintings. After the Netherlands, Monet and his family returned to France and lived in Argenteuil. Argenteuil is where Monet painted his best known works. In 1879 Camille died of tuberculosis and Monet painted her on her deathbed. He believed that this painting reflected his love and loss, but critiques to this day claim that this painting done in white, gray, and purple slashed across the pillows of Camille's death bed etched a loss that diminished her tender features.