MONET, Claude (Paris, 1840 – Giverny, 1926)
Claude Monet was born in Paris on 14 November 1840, the second child of Adolphe Monet and Louise Justine Aubrée. For business reasons, the family moved to Le Havre, where he spent his youth and became acquainted with Eugène Boudin, who encouraged him to paint outdoors. Monet moved to Paris in 1859, intending to complete his education at the Académie Suisse. His studies were interrupted, however, by two years of military service in Algeria and a brief stay in Le Havre prior to his return to Paris. During the 1860s he met Jongkind in Brittany, as well as Bazille, Sisley, Renoir and Cézanne in Charles Gleyre’s atelier. In 1870, Monet married Camille Doncieux, who had served as a model for Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe (1865–66). During the Franco-Prussian War he lived in London along with Pissarro. Afterwards, he first travelled to Argenteuil, then moved to Vétheuil in 1878, and finally, after short periods between Pourville and Varengeville (1882) he settled in Giverny in 1883. In 1873 Monet completed the painting Impression - Soleil Levant (Paris, Musée Marmottan). The painting was shown at the first Impressionist Exhibition in 1874, and the critic Louis Leroy named the group after it. Monet experienced such financial success during the 1890s that he was able to purchase the house he had been renting in Giverny and the land surrounding it. He also had an elaborate water garden with exotic plants created and built new studio space. From 1888 onwards he concentrated increasingly on series of paintings featuring a single motif viewed at different times of day and under varying conditions of weather and light. These included, for example, Haystacks (1889–93) and Rouen Cathedral (1892–94), of which the French government purchased a painting in 1907. Monet’s most famous serial paintings are the Water-lilies, which he worked on until his death. The artist died on 5 December 1926 in Giverny. The following year, the cycle entitled Water-lilies - Wall Paintings, which the painter had presented to the French government as a gift in 1918, was exhibited in Paris in the Orangerie of the Tuileries. Following the painter’s instructions, a small funeral service was held on 8 December.
Mar Borobia
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