Claude
Monet was born on 14th November, 1840 in Paris, but moved
to the port town of Le HavreWhen he was five years old.
For much of his childhood, Monet was considered by both
his teachers and his parents to be undisciplined and,
therefore, unlikely to make a success of his life. Not
helping this opinion, Monet showed no interest in inheriting
his father's wholesale grocery, and the only thing he
should any real interest in was painting. More specifically,
at this stage he enjoyed creating caricatures and by the
age of fifteen, was receiving commission for his work.
 His
youth was spent in Le Havre, where he first excelled
as a caricaturist but was then converted to landscape
painting by his early mentor Boudin, from whom he discovered
his joy for painting outside. In 1859 he studied in
Paris at the Atelier Suisse and formed a friendship
with Pissarro. After two years' military service in
Algiers, he returned to Le Havre and met Jongkind, to
whom he said he owed 'the definitive education of my
eye'. In 1862, Monet entered the studio of Gleyre in
Paris where he first made acquaintance with Renoir,
Sisley, and Bazille, with whom he was to form the nucleus
of the Impressionist group.
During
the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) he took refuge in
England with Pissarro: he studied the work of Constable
and Turner, painted the Thames and London parks, and
met the dealer Durand-Ruel, who was to become one of
the great champions of the Impressionists. From 1871
to 1878 Monet lived at Argenteuil, a village on the
Seine near Paris, and here were painted some of the
most joyous and famous works of the Impressionist movement,
not only by Monet, but by his visitors Manet, Renoir
and Sisley. In 1878 he moved to Vétheuil and in 1883
he settled at Giverny, also on the Seine, but about
40 miles from Paris. After having experienced extreme
poverty, Monet began to prosper. By 1890 he was successful
enough to buy the house at Giverny he had previously
rented and in 1892 he married his mistress, with whom
he had begun an affair in 1876, three years before the
death of his first wife. From 1890 he concentrated on
series of pictures in which he painted the same subject
at different times of the day in different lights---Haystacks
or Grainstacks (1890-91) and Rouen Cathedral (1891-95)
are the best known. See the 'series'
section for examples of these paintings.
Towards
the end of his lifetime, Claude Monet became financially
secure for the first time. With this new-found luxury,
Monet devoted himself to gardening which, in turn, provided
a motif for the painter's last important work, the Water
Lily Pool .
In
his final years he was troubled by failing eyesight,
but he painted until the end.
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