Born in Paris November 14, 1840, CLAUDE OSCAR MONET spent his childhood in Le Havre, France - a Normandy coast seaport town. His middle class parents were prosperous merchants selling to the marine trade and hoped that eventually he would continue in the family business. Until her death, his mother supported his interest in art, which first appeared at school. Claude drew humorous images of his teachers in his notebooks and by age seventeen, was a skilled draftsman charging twenty francs for drawing caricatures of local residents.

Seaside, Teapot TAL819 View Our Teapots

Bust of Monet

I n 1858, with mentor, Eugène Louis Boudin (1824-98), they painted outdoor studies, seascapes and landscapes in the Barbizon School "open-air tradition". Even at that early age, Monet was able to visualize the light and atmosphere and render them instantly with his hand. He appreciated Boudin‘s gentle and generous guidance, and worked with him whenever Monet returned to Le Havre, which was often. Monet enjoyed the Normandy coastline because it was a source of inspiration for him with its changing light and weather conditions. (Notice the adaptation of Monet's Seaside painting on the porcelain teapot above).

As a young man, he admired many non-conventional artists from the Barbizon School, Camille Corot, Charles-François Daubigny and Henri Rousseau, and Realists, Gustave Courbet and Honore Daumier. Monet said of Dutch watercolorist, Johan Barthold Jongkind (1819-91):

"He [Johan Barthold Jongkind] asked to see my sketches, invited me to come and work with him, explained the whys and wherefores underlining his work and thereby, completed the training that I had already received from Boudin. He became from this moment, my true master and it is to him, that I owe the definitive education of my eye."…Claude Monet

Monet attended the famed, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, but rejected its official classical training and left to study at the Academie Swisse, where classes were less structured and students drew from live models as opposed to traditional casts. While there, he became a close friend with Camille Pissarro. After serving briefly in the French Military, Monet attended Gleyre’s Studio where he met future fellow Impressionists leaders – Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, and Frederic Bazille. They all became good friends and Monet persuaded them to go on ‘open-air’ painting trips in the forest of Fontainebleau outside Paris. Bazille helped support Monet financially and supplied him with artist supplies.

Monet saw some of Edward Manet’s large canvases, including the Olympia (which created a scandal in 1862). In the mid-1860's, Monet began working on huge 15’x20’ canvases, outdoor scenes with figures.

On several of these canvases, Monet painted model, Camille Doncieux, who was to become his first wife. Monet painted her often and in various settings throughout the early years. (notice one of these paintings below)

Camille Monet and a Child, stained glass #3886

I n 1865, Monet had two excellent seascapes, and in 1866, a life-size portrait of Camille, Woman in Green Dress, 1866, accepted by the Salon (a juried art exhibition sponsored annually by the official French Academy of Fine Arts). The three pieces were praised and purchased; but there-after, only occasionally did the Salon accept his work.

Monet and Camille experienced periods of dire poverty in the early years. They borrowed money, even from friends, because it was a constant and major issue until he began enjoying critical and financial success in the late 1880’s.

One difficult period was when his father disapproved of Camille and disinherited Claude; his work was not selling and creditors seized his paintings; also, Camille with their newborn son, Jean, was unable to find shelter. In a letter requesting money from Bazille, Monet said, because of the difficulties he had tried to drown himself.

Fortunately, Monet’s first patron, Mr. Gaudibert, purchased some of his works, provided a pension, and in 1868, commissioned a full-length portrait of Mrs. Gaudibert. The immediate income enabled Monet to temporarily support his family, paint and regain his self-confidence. Monet Portrait Porcelain Pin TAL675 $22, 1 3/4" diameter

Most of the Impressionists in the late-1860’s were struggling financially and artistically. Few were having shows and if they did, the paintings were selling for about the cost of the frames. Their images were moving farther and farther away from classical paintings of historical, mythological or religious themes; because the Impressionists were painting scenes of everyday life, which had begun earlier with the Realists. The Impressionist palette had lightened by limiting usage of black and earthtone colors, and they tried to convey the effects of reflected light. Monet was using unmixed paints applied in a wet-in-wet technique with short brush strokes. His palette usually consisted of complementary colors and he was painting open-air with limited finishing in his studio. Renoir was to recall:

"Without my dear Monet, who gave us all courage, we would have given up!"...Auguste Renoir

After being married, Monet and Camille with their friend, Gustave Courbet, sought refuge in London from the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). Frederic Bazille was killed in the war, ending a promising career. In England, Monet studied paintings by J. M. William Turner and John Constable, painted scenes of the Thames and Hyde Park and met gallery owner and soon-to-be Impressionist supporter, Paul Durand-Ruel. After the war and his father’s death, they returned to France through the Netherlands where he was influenced by Japanese prints and purchased several.

From 1871-78, the Monet family settled in the village of Argenteuil, then an undeveloped suburb of Paris and a sailing resort on the Seine River. Often his friends, Manet, who lived nearby, Renoir, Sisley and many others visited, discussed art and painted with him. Monet’s works were just beginning to sell and dealers visited him also, in particular Durand-Ruel. Monet spent the money from the canvases he sold on entertaining his friends instead of paying off his dept.

I n the greater Argenteuil area, the Impressionist artists created important paintings, and Monet produced more than 170 works while he was there. He designed and constructed his paintings as he painted and utilized the area’s activity and diversity for subject matters – such as beaches, river scenes, flags, sailing boats and their shapes and reflections (notice the Red Boat painting).He also painted in the woods, gardens and did numerous domestic scenes, sometimes including his family within the immediate surroundings. One painting showed Camille and Jean in a field ablaze with poppies.

The Red Boats: Argenteuil, Watch #3549 View Our Watch Collection

Monet was one of the chief organizers and exhibitors at the first Impressionism Show held in 1874 at Nadar’s Studio. A few of the thirty artists were: Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Paul Cezanne, Berthe Morisot and Eugene Boudin. The common thread for the artists was rejection by the Salon judges and opposition to official art.

There were a total of eight annual shows and Monet participated 1874, 76, 77, 79 and 82. Art critic, Louis Leroy, gave the first show a sarcastic review, writing the artists had painted so loosely and didn’t blend their brush strokes, as was the traditional approach. He called the artworks "Impressionist," based upon Monet’s Impression: Sunrise, 1872-73.

Impression: Sunrise, 1872-73

Monet himself recognized that he was using a technique different from the established norm. In his attempt to capture a single, fleeting moment on canvas, Monet worked at a frantic pace...even faster than when he created a sketch. In his own words, his objective was to create an "impression" of what he was seeing. And in particular about the above painting "Impression: Sunrise", he wrote:

"…i t really could not pass as a view of Le Havre." …Claude Monet

See Also CLAUDE OSCAR MONET - PART 2 His Life after the 'Impressionist" Movement's Creation To view part two of this article: CLICK HERE