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Whenever the term Impressionism is mentioned, thoughts
immediately turn to Claude Monet. Like no other he shaped and
influenced this bright style of painting with its positive attitude
towards life. Born on November 14th, 1840 in Paris, he commenced his artistic career as a caricaturist and landscape painter. In 1862 he met Auguste Renoir, Frederic Bazille, and Alfred Sisley, with whom he devoted himself to painting in the open country. Influenced by John Constable, and in particular the later works of William Turner, he became a pioneer of outdoor painting from 1871. The term Impressionism, initially used as a term of mockery by critics, originated from his naval painting "Impression, soleil levant", exhibited in 1874. In his spacious property with a country-house and Japanese-style gardens in Giverny near Paris, he laid out a pond of water lilies in 1899, that from then on became the only motif of his paintings until his death in December 1926. The perception of nature and its changes of colour through the effects of daylight was the decisive phenomenon in the composition of his works. |