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Known as the "Father of Impressionism" Claude Monet displeased art critics during the last part of the nineteenth century. They thought his work to be sloppy and unfinished-they said he was lazy. However, anyone who has attempted to paint in the Impressionist style, will tell you it is easier said than done. To capture value rather than shape is a complex process that requires higher thinking.

Let us look at the man who, along with a few colleagues, ignored the critics' taunts and developed this impressionism into one of the most popular art movements in history. Monet was born in Paris, but was raised in the harbor town of Le Havre, France . His father was a merchant and so Monet was exposed to a great variety of people. He was not a sharp scholar and often got into trouble for drawing unflattering pictures of his teachers. He eventually earned a small living drawing caricatures of tourists who visited the harbor.

Painter Eugene Boudin took the young Monet under his wing after seeing great potential in his drawings. He encouraged Monet to paint. Specifically,he encouraged Monet to paint outdoors,or plein-aire; something not many artists did at the time. While other artists were in their studios painting from memory or sketches, Monet was outside experiencing the colors, shadows and weather conditions that would serve as a catalyst for the birth of Impressionism.

The first Impressionist painting entered into a Salon exhibit was Monet's "Impression of Sunrise". Critics vehemently attacked the blurred lines and stylized colors and dubbed the artists who created such work as those "Impressionists"! While the title was meant to be a slur, it came to identify one of the most important art styles in history.

Monet worked tirelessly, often from his floating studio-a boat outfitted with an awning and all the supplies he would need to spend a day of painting. He would float down the river capturing the light as it reflected off such objects as the Japanese bridge he built on his property in Giverny, France. He often painted the same subject at different times of the day. His haystack paintings are some of his best examples of how light changes the appearance of an object. They also show how varied weather conditions give different surface effect to objects.

Monet was not too busy however, to have a life. He and his first wife Camille had eight children. After Camille's death, Monet remarried. He and his second wife Alice finished raising these children in the Pink house in Giverny, France. Here Monet built a permanent home with an elaborate garden. His favorite scenes included water and he soon became famous for his stunning waterlily paintings. Upon observance, one will see that he clearly loved nature and loved to experience it first hand.

Toward the end of his life he was stricken with cataracts. After a failed surgery, he spent his last days virtually blind. Some of his final waterlily paintings, painted in his studio and most likely from memory, were as large as eight feet tall and ten to fifteen feet wide.

Born in 1840, Monet lived a long, productive life. He died in 1926 at the age of 86. Very seldom does an artist pass through time who so profoundly changes the course of art history. Monet,was just such and artist and from his example, the world is blessed with some of the most beautiful and intriguing works it has ever known.

Learn more about this author, Jana Barrett.
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