Claude Monet

Claude Monet also known as Claude Oscar Monet was born in November on the 14th 1840 and died in December on the 5th 1926. Monet was raised in Normandy, he was the son of Claude-Adolphe and Louise-Justine Aubree Monet. His father owned a grocery store and his mother was a singer. Monet was a founder of the french impressionist movement. On the first of April 1851 entered the the Le Havre secondary school of the arts. On the beaches of Normandy in about 1856/1857 he met fellow artist Eugène Boudin who became his mentor and taught him to use oil paints. Boudin taught Monet "en plein air" (outdoor) techniques for painting. In 1862 Monet became a student of Charles Gleyre in Paris, where he met Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Frédéric Bazille, and Alfred Sisley. Together they shared new approaches to art, painting the effects of light en plein air with broken color and rapid brushstrokes, in what later came to be known as Impressionism.

San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk 1912

This is one of Monet's most famous impressionist paintings. Monet and his wife were invited to stay in Venice when he arrived in Venice he became mesmerized by the sights of Venice. San Giorgio Maggiore is a sanctuary and monastery off of the Italian coast. Monet’s depiction of San Giorgio Maggiore is all about the effects of light, Monet uses small,thin brush strokes, with an emphasis on the accurate depiction of how light changes the qualities of the subject, and movement in the water, using unusual visual angles. Monet emphasized capturing the moment, with sunlight effects, and the overall visual effect, instead of details. Monet disliked the sun setting, because with the sunset, colors began to disappear.

Claude Monet, 2013,  Claude Monet The complete works. [Online] Available at : <http://www.claudemonetgallery.org/biography.html>

[Accessed on 28th April 2013]

Met Museum, 2013. [Online] Available at: <http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cmon/hd_cmon.htm>

[Accessed on 28th April 2013]

TH, 2013. Total History. [Online] Available at: <http://totallyhistory.com/san-giorgio-maggiore-at-dusk/>

[Accessed on 28th April 2013]