Claude Monet

Claude Monet – Early successes as a caricaturist

Claude Oscar Monet was born in Paris on 14 November 1840, the second son of the businessman Adolphe Monet and his wife Louise Justine Aubrée. His parents called him by his middle name, Oscar. Economic problems forced the Monet family to move to Le Havre in 1845 where Claude Monet attended the state grammar school from 1851 to 1857 and received his first drawing lessons from Jacques-François Ochad. The artist’s rebellious nature made itself apparent early on, and Monet struggled with school discipline, taking revenge on his strict teachers through pointed caricatures that a local picture frame dealer displayed in his shop window. Claude Monet soon received his first commissions, selling his caricatures for 20 cents each. As an artist he signed his work at this time with his middle and surname, O. Monet. Through this activity he came into contact with the painter Eugène Bodin who encouraged him to pursue a serious artistic career. 

Economic woes, artistic flowering

In 1859, Claude Monet went to Paris, financially supported by his father. There he met not only Pablo Picasso but also Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley and in particular Fréderic Bazille who proved a dependable friend and supported Monet practically and economically. With his choice of subjects and the style of his painting, Claude Monet moved increasingly away from the artistic conventions of his time – and with it, away from commercial success. This resulted in financial worries which were only alleviated by the dowry of his wife Camille Doncieux and a paternal inheritance. In 1872, he painted the work “Impression, Sunrise” which is not only one of Claude Monet’s most famous works, but also gave its name to the entire style direction of Impressionism. Regardless of its later importance, the painting went largely unnoticed in its first exhibition in 1874. In 1879, Monet’s first wife Camille died. Thanks to the support of the art dealer Durand-Ruel, Claude Monet was able to remain true to his artistic line; nevertheless, the distance to the other Impressionists grew.

Later breakthrough in the garden at Giverny

The increasing success of Impressionism contributed to an improvement in his financial situation and enabled Claude Monet to purchase a house in Giverny where he lived with his second wife Alice Hoschedé. He gradually acquired more land until the property had grown to a stately size and housed an exotic garden and several studios. Young Impressionists arrived, especially from America, who wanted Monet as a teacher, a role, however, that the artist consistently rejected. In Giverny, Monet created his famous water lilies, which, despite the please of his friends, Monet did not wish to bequeath to the French state, with which he had a tense relationship. He had always rejected earlier honours and in 1898 he protested against the unlawful conviction of Alfred Dreyfus. 

Claude Monet died in Giverny on 5 December 1926. When paintings by Claude Monet come up for sale, the prices generally reach dizzying heights which make auction houses’ eyes light up: one of his haystacks recently sold for 75.7 million euros.