Claude Monet: Founder of French Impressionism, 19th Century Painting Legend

Born in Paris in the middle of 19th century, Monet was unquestionably the most gifted painters in an era that had witnessed the culmination of distinctive styles of painting into established schools of art.

A proponent of open air paintings for capturing elements of natural light, the legendary painter Claude Oscar Monet was also the founder-leader of the French Impressionist (a school of painting) movement. He was the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement’s philosophy, central to which was the notion of expressing one’s perceptions before nature.

Fascinating Scoop: Experimentation was in his blood, like every other luminary from that age. The pinnacle of Monet’s series paintings technique, of observing the same subject at different times of the day and then captured in numerous sequences of paintings achieved a remarkable degree of abstraction. This, and many other creative processes promulgated by Monet have been instrumental in influencing the future generations of painters.

It never is easy, picking the best, for simple reason being, every work in an illustrious career that started on the banks of Seine is atleast to the untrained eye, as charismatic and titillating as the previous one. Monet was exceptionally fond of painting controlled nature: his own gardens in Giverny, with its water lilies, pond, and bridge.

1. The Rue Montorgueil in Paris. Celebration of June 30th, 1878 (1878) — Historians and scientists believed that Monet was endowed with hyper-sensitive visual abilities, allowing him to visualize things most people would miss. For instance, look at the flags flags themselves are painted, they look quite blurry and unclear, But if one were to look down at the crowd, and use their peripheral vision to look at the flags, it gives the effect of unanimous flags waving in distance.

Monet seems to have come upon discoveries in vision and optics, as well as painterly effects, that were not properly proved by science for many years after his death.

2. Women in the Garden (1866–67) — From the delicate shadows and the warm flesh tones visible through the sleeves to flickers of sunlight piercing the foliage of the trees, Women in the Garden was painted at Ville d’Avray using his future wife Camille Doncieux as the only model. Meticulously composed, the goal of this large scale work (100” by 81”) was to render the effects of true outdoor light, and not just the established conventions of drapery or modeling. Vivacious and subtly charming, each and every colour, flower accents to striped clothing, the suns’ rays, every detailed element stands out for want of attention.

For Monet, it was the surrounding atmosphere which gives subjects their true value as the landscape does not exist in its own right, susceptible to momentous changes. Monet experimented with bold colours, loose handling, and strikingly unconventional compositions, which were all point of departures from the established norms at that time. The emphasis was on depicting different qualities of light and atmosphere in each scene, a stunning composition! The earliest of receptions were bleak and only after a while did Monet’s work garnered the due recognition, which it has managed to continue to this day.

The most recent auction of monet’s legacy was in 2008, from the water lily series. And it went for a whooping 3,35,84,84,700 Rupees.

“Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love.” The bloke above paid close to 300 crores for your work. Love ain’t cheap eh Mister Monet!