We can thank Claude Monet for the term, "Impressionism"; because it was his 1872 painting, "Impression, Sunrise" (Impression, soleil levant), from which the name of the style was born. In fact the first exhibit by the "Impressionists" was in April-May, 1874, in Paris, with some 3500 guests attending.
"Impression, Sunrise" did not sell in the show, possibly because of its high price. But its title was also used as a derisive term by a critic writing about the exhibitors' and especially this painting's sketchy, unfinished style. Monet's fellow artists took up the designation with pride, and determined thereafter to use "Impressionists" to describe themselves, and "Impressionism" as a name for their new style of viewing and portraying nature.
Monet's contributions to painting include a devotion to plein air, not just for studies but for nearly complete paintings; his use of airy, light grounds, rather than dark backgrounds; his bright colors and manner of depicting human forms with no discernable 3D modeling; his lack of linear perspective; and his use of stark shadows and light to evoke the passing time of day.
He is also known for his various series of the same landscape in different lights and different seasons. In fact, the father of French Impressionism was said to keep more than one canvas going for the same scene, switching between them as the light changed. Monet's Haystacks, Poplars, Rouen Catherdral, and later his Water Lily series are indicative of his lasting fascination with light and the way it affected color.
Although his family called him "Oscar" and he signed work in his youth as "O. Monet", later he signed as Claude Monet. Monet would deal with depression all of his life. In fact, in the year after his first son was born, he tried to drown himself in the Seine River, in a fortunately unsuccessful attempt. His financial struggles would eventually take a complete turn when, in the 1890's, he achieved critical and financial success at long last.
In the two decades of his twenties and thirties, Monet was like a rolling stone, moving between Paris, England (during the Franco-Prussian War), the Netherlands, back to Argenteiul, briefly back to the Netherland, then to Vétheuil. The moving habit continued in his early 40's, with a move to Poissy, then Vernon, and finally to Giverny, where he lived from the age of 42 to 86 years old, at his death. It is apparent that in Giverny, Monet was finally "home".
Monet's mother, a singer, supported his artistic bent and his penchant for drawing caracatures of the locals, in Normandy, where the family had lived since Monet was about five. Although he took drawing lessons at the time; at sixteen, wandering the beach, he met Eugene Boudin, who taught "Oscar" to paint in oils, using techniques Boudin had developed for outdoor (en plein air) painting. Boudin's mentorship was to have a profound influence on Monet's style and outlook on painting.
Early the next year, however, Monet's mother died; and he quit school and went to live in Paris, with his aunt. There he would meet fellow artists, Édouard Manet, Camille Pissarro, and other friends from the Academie Suisse, in which he enrolled. Later, after brief military service, he would also meet Frederic Bazille, Alfred Sisley, and Pierre August Renoir, who would travel with him to the countryside to paint.
Camille Doncieux, a favorite model of Monet, Manet, and Renoir, became Monet's lover and wife. They had two sons, Jean and Michel. Camille died at only 32 years of age, having Tuberculosis and, by some accounts, uterine cancer.
During the Monet's time in England, taking refuge from the Franco-Prussian War, Claude was greatly inspired by his studies of the atmospheric, maritime artwork of J.M. William Turner and the landscapes of John Constable.
Once back in France, the Monet family took up residence with art supporter and businessman, Ernest Hoschedé, and his wife and children. Within two short years, however, Hoschedé would go bankrupt, leave for Belgium, and eventually become estranged from his wife, Alice, and their six children. A year later, Monet's wife, Camille, died.
Claude stayed at the Hoschedé family home in Vétheuil, while Alice took his two boys to live with her in Paris. Eventually, they all moved back to Vétheuil, and—within three years—to Giverny. It was not until they had lived in Giverny for nearly a decade that Alice and Claude married, in 1892. The occasion was Ernest's death—Ernest and Alice had never divorced.
Monet finished perhaps his most famous series of paintings—the Waterlilies of Giverny, after the rise of Cubism and Picasso, and the death of Alice.
—F.A. Moore, for Solo-Home
Copyright © 2014, F.A. Moore. All rights reserved.
Expressed permission granted to Solo Exhibition, Inc.
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The Artist's Garden in Argenteuil
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Bend in the Epte River, near Giverney
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