Claude Monet

Claude Monet was a French artist who pioneered French Impressionist painting.

Fast Facts:

1. Born: November 14, 1840 in Paris, France
2. 1868: Attempted suicide by jumping into Seine River
3. Marries Camille Monet, June 28, 1870
4. 1874: Term "impressionism" coined by disparaging critic after exhibit including Monet's Impression, Sunrise
5. 1879: Camille Monet died of tuberculosis
6. Moved to Giverny in 1883
7. Died: December 5, 1926
8. Painted many natural scenes over and over again, at different times of day, under different lighting and weather conditions

Brief Biography

Monet was born in Paris in 1840, and as a teenager became acquiainted with the French painter Eugene Boudin, who taught the young artist how to paint outdoors effectively. Monet's mother died in 1857, and in 1861, Monet joined the First Regiment of African Light Cavalry in Algeria. After only two years of service, Monet returned to Paris and attended art school. After fathering an illegitimate child in 1867, and finding himself impoverished, Monet tried to kill himself by jumping into the Seine River. Monet survived the attempt, but ironically always professed a deep love of water for the rest of his life, going so far as to say that he wanted to be buried on a buoy.

Move to London

Monet fled to London after the outbreak of hostilities in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, and then moved to Holland the following year. Many of his paintings reflect sites in these locales. In 1874, the first major exhibit of painters who would come to be known as the Impressionists began, and Monet's painting, Impression, Sunrise, inspired the name.

Later Life

After his wife Camille died in 1879, Monet began traveling and then living in Giverny, in Normandy, where he planted a garden that he painted for the rest of his life. Monet died in 1926.

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