It’s terrible that I wrote nearly 150 posts before I said anything much about Claude Monet. If he wasn’t the first impressionist, he at least gave us the word for the movement, and that's a big deal. He also created some of the greatest examples of impressionism as he experimented with light and color and learned to portray subjects with quick brush strokes.
Monet was born in Paris in 1840 but his family moved to Normandy when he was 5. He knew from a young age that he wanted to be an artist rather than go into the family grocery business, and so he went to school to learn technique. When he was 16, Monet met Eugene Boudin who taught him to paint outdoors, “en plein air.” When he went to Paris, many painters cooped themselves up in the Louvre and copied the works of the masters, as you’ve read about already on this blog, but Monet chose to develop the methods taught to him Boudin. He worked outdoors, painting scenes as he saw them rather than the way they were seen by artists who came before him.
Monet served briefly in the armed service until he became ill and had to return home. He met several budding artists, including Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and they began experimenting with the new style that would become impressionism.
During the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), Monet lived in England and studied works by great landscape artists such as John Constable.
In 1873 he painted Impression, Sunrise (shown above), the painting for which the entire Impressionism movement was named. The term “Impressionism” was originally meant as an insult by an art critic but the painters liked it and used the name to describe their style of painting.
After his wife died in 1879 (shown above on her death bed), Monet began in earnest to produce. He continued in the Impressionist style and tried to create a portrait of France with his paintings. In 1883 when he moved to Giverny and, over the next 10 years, planted his grand garden. He loved to paint the garden and the lily ponds. He painted his many series during this time, which showed the same subject at different times during the day. You’ve seen some of these series already, including Water Lilies, Rouen Cathedral, and Etretat.
Toward the end of his life, Monet developed cataracts in his eyes which affected the way he saw colors. He continued to paint anyway, but you can tell which paintings were created when his eyes were bad.
In 1926, at the age of 86, Monet died and was buried in Giverny.
Monet was born in Paris in 1840 but his family moved to Normandy when he was 5. He knew from a young age that he wanted to be an artist rather than go into the family grocery business, and so he went to school to learn technique. When he was 16, Monet met Eugene Boudin who taught him to paint outdoors, “en plein air.” When he went to Paris, many painters cooped themselves up in the Louvre and copied the works of the masters, as you’ve read about already on this blog, but Monet chose to develop the methods taught to him Boudin. He worked outdoors, painting scenes as he saw them rather than the way they were seen by artists who came before him.
Monet served briefly in the armed service until he became ill and had to return home. He met several budding artists, including Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and they began experimenting with the new style that would become impressionism.
During the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), Monet lived in England and studied works by great landscape artists such as John Constable.
In 1873 he painted Impression, Sunrise (shown above), the painting for which the entire Impressionism movement was named. The term “Impressionism” was originally meant as an insult by an art critic but the painters liked it and used the name to describe their style of painting.After his wife died in 1879 (shown above on her death bed), Monet began in earnest to produce. He continued in the Impressionist style and tried to create a portrait of France with his paintings. In 1883 when he moved to Giverny and, over the next 10 years, planted his grand garden. He loved to paint the garden and the lily ponds. He painted his many series during this time, which showed the same subject at different times during the day. You’ve seen some of these series already, including Water Lilies, Rouen Cathedral, and Etretat.Toward the end of his life, Monet developed cataracts in his eyes which affected the way he saw colors. He continued to paint anyway, but you can tell which paintings were created when his eyes were bad.
In 1926, at the age of 86, Monet died and was buried in Giverny.
Monet's Japanese Bridge at Giverny.
I'd like also to note that you can now visit Monet's garden. I have never seen it but I hope to someday!
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Current NaNoEdMo Hour Count: 6.25/50hours
Yes, I'm a little behind. But I had to take a really long test.
That's my story.
Like the 
Despite the condition of the sculpture, Nike of Samothrace stands grandly upon the ship on the landing of a prominent staircase in the Louvre. She continues to attract hordes of visitors and to stun even those who didn’t expect to see her.
She was found hidden away in a cavern on the island of Milos in the Aegean Sea in 1820. She was broken in pieces: upper body, lower body, top of left arm, left hand holding an apple, and inscribed base. The peasant who found her, Yorgos Kentrotas, knew that he should turn her in to the Turkish authorities but he found her beauty so great that he kept her for himself. He was probably also interested in how much money he could make if he sold her to the right buyer. Eventually, the officials learned of the discovery and took Venus de Milo from Kentrotas’ barn.
Once at the Louvre, the sculpture was put back together but the arms were not as well finished as the rest of the sculpture so they were left off. Experts later determined that the arms were original pieces of the Venus de Milo. The inscribed base told us who had created the sculpture, Alexandros of Antioch, but it dated the Venus de Milo much later than the French had originally thought. That piece of the base has mysteriously disappeared, though we haven’t forgotten the information it taught us.
And below is Monet’s The Cliff, Etretat, Sunset. I chose to show you this painting because I remember seeing it when it was included in the Monet in Normandy exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art last year and the image stuck with me. I love the sun in this painting.
It wasn’t just Monet who painted this scene, though. Below, find Gustave Courbet’s take on the cliffs in The Cliffs at Etretat and Etretat After a Storm. 
Eugene Boudin’s Etretat, The Cliff of Aval (below).
Eugene Delacroix also painted the cliffs but I couldn’t find a picture online to show you. You can always go to the library and look it up in a book if you’re interested.
