Claude
Monet
By Jenny K.
The Life of Claude
Monet
Claude Monet is a native
Frenchman. Born in Paris, France on November 14, 1840, he grew to be
famous not only in his homeland, but worldwide. When he was yet a
young boy, his family packed up and moved to the town of Le Havre, a
friendly port town. He was seen as "undisciplined" and dubbed a
likely failure in the future, partly because he showed no interest or
initiative in his father's grocery store. He did have one passion,
and that was for painting. In school, he would draw small caricatures
and by age 15, he was receiving request for artwork.
One day, in 1856 in La
Havre, Monet met Eugene Boudin, another painter. Boudin was never
very famous for his own works, but the influence and education he
contributed to Monet's career eventually produced some of the most
famous landscapes ever. For it was from Boudin that Monet developed
his great love of nature.
A few years later in
1859, Monet left again for Paris to broaden his knowledge and
experience. He found however, that he did not appreciate the
traditional ways of painting- confined to indoors and exhausting
hours of work until the piece was finished. So, he declined any
formal art training, (the reason for which he had left Le Havre), and
spent much time at the more relaxed Acadamie Suisse.
In the spring of 1862,
Monet's career was interrupted by a draft into the army. He was
supposed to be sent to Algeria for a number of years, but he
contracted typhoid and out of pity, his aunt bought him out of the
army under the condition that Monet would finish his formal
education. However, Monet did not keep his promise. Instead, he
enrolled in an institution that did not have the strict professors
that "suitable" academies had. It was here that Monet met three close
friends who shared his liking for a new style of art that eventually
was called Impressionism. His new acquaintances were Frederic
Bazille, Auguste Renoir, and Alfred Sisley.
Throughout their early
friendships, the four often took trips to a nearby forest to paint.
Monet became more and more thrilled with nature. Soon, though, Monet
was struggling financially and sought a way to enter L'Ecole de
Artists so as to make a name for himself. His repeated attemps were
failed because the style of impressionism was just not excepted yet.
His pictures would not sell, either, but no matter, Monet never let
his paintings become dismal.
Monet moved to Giverny
in 1883, one year after his wife, Camille had died. He was
forty-three. Nine years later, though, he married again and his new
wife was an inspiration for his famous series of Rouen Cathedral. It
was for this that he finally gained fame and financial security. In
his later years, he turned to gardening, which was another motivation
for his pictures. Monet died on December 5, 1926 at the age of
eighty-six.