Claude Monet

Master & Defender of Impressionism

Claude Monet – it is a name that has become nearly synonymous with the term impressionism. One of the world’s most celebrated and well-known painters, it was his work, Impressionism, Sunrise, that gave a name to that first distinctly modern art movement, Impressionism. As the pivotal movement’s founding father, Monet’s remarkable oeuvre occupies a central place in the history of art, and he is credited for influencing generations of artists to come. Today, Monet's painting style can be seen throughout museums across the world and is a highly sought-after style for art collectors everywhere.

Early Years in Paris
It was the French landscape painter Eugène Boudin who would help lead Monet to his impressionist style. He met Monet in 1858, and, recognizing his talent, took the budding artist along with him on landscape painting excursions into the countryside. These outings were Monet's first introduction to painting en plein air, and from Boudin he learned to observe and record the effects of light, tonal values, and perspective. The lessons would undoubtedly change the course of his career as an impressionist painter.

While Boudin first opened Monet to the possibilities of painting, Paris was where his revolutionary style would evolve and flourish. He moved there in 1859 to study at the Atelier Suisse, forming a friendship with Camille Pissarro. After serving briefly in the military, Monet returned to Paris to enroll in the studio of the Swiss painter Charles Gleyre. Remembered today more for his instruction than his production, Gleyre taught a number of young artists who rose to prominence - Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Jean-Léon Gérôme, Jean-Louis Hamon and Louis-Frederic Schützenberger, among others, all passed through his studio.