Claude Monet and The French Impressionism Art Movement

Claude Oscar Monet, one of the founders of French impressionist painting and the exponent of plein-air painting (a method of painting out of doors in natural light), was born in Paris on 14 November, 1840. The term "Impressionism" was itself derived from the title of one of his canvases, "Impression, Sunrise".

Monet's first visit to The Louvre and the many years he spent in Paris earned him a number of friends including Edouard Manet; many of these associates later became fellow impressionists. Monet enrolled for art instruction under Charles Gleyre in Paris in 1862. It was here that he met Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Frederic Bazille, and Alfred Sisley with whom he shared new art approaches, techniques, and experimented with the technique of broken colour and rapid brushstrokes, depicting the effects of light "en plein air". This technique later came to be called "Impressionism".

The canvas that brought Monet recognition was entitled "Camille" and also known as "The Woman in the Green Dress" ("La Femme a la Robe Verte" - 1866). It featured Monet's future wife Camille Donciuex. Camille has also been depicted in "The Woman in the Garden" (1867) and "On the Bank of the Seine, Bennecourt" (1868), as well as in many other paintings.

The Franco-Prussian War that broke out on 19 July 1870 and Monet moved to England for safe refuge. This gave him the opportunity to get acquainted with two artists who influenced his study of colour, John Constable and Joseph Mallord William Turner. Their landscapes eventually had considerable bearing on Monet's innovations in colour study.

Some of Monet's most famous canvases were painted when he returned to France from Zaandam in 1871 and went on to stay at Argenteuil from December 1871 to 1878. These include "Seine Basin with Argenteuil" (1872), "Jean Monet on his Hobby Horse" (1872 – depicting his elder son), "Poppies Blooming" (1873), "Madame Monet in a Japanese Costume" (1875), "Argenteuil" (1875), and "Rue Montorgueil" (1878), and his most representative work, "Impression, Sunrise" (1873).

The next stage in Monet's career began after the death of his wife, Camille, in 1878, following which he settled in Vetheuil, a village in the north-western suburbs of Paris, until 1881; during this period he produced approximately 150 paintings. Camille's death, though a terrible blow for the artist, proved to be the catalyst which sparked his creative streak, enabling him to create a series of paintings to help lift his family out of poverty. This series of paintings on canvas included: "Rouen Cathedral" (1892-1894), "Mornings on the Seine", "Houses of Parliament, London" (1904) and "Water Lilies" (1907). Other paintings that belong to his later artistic period were "The Cliffs at Etretat" (1885), "Haystacks (sunset)" (1890-1891) and "Branch of the Seine near Giverny" (1897).

Claude Monet died at the age of 85 due to lung cancer on 5 December 1926 at Giverny, France. This location was his home for many years and also the setting for many of his most famous oil on canvas paintings including "Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies" (1899) and "Garden Path" (1902).