French Celebrities Bio | Claude Monet : Founder of French Impressionism

Claude Monet was the undisputed leader of Impressionism, the late 19th-century art movement.

The innovative artist was born in Paris in 1840 and grew up in Le Havre, where he soon found himself drawn to the outdoor life – this would very much influence his later artistic leanings as he began taking his easel outside to capture colour, the transient effects of sunlight and landscape.



Although he showed early aptitude for caricature, Monet was convinced by his first mentor Eugène Bodin to veer away from portraiture and the formality of academic painting to adopt a short, thick and quick brushstroke style with vibrant colours – a feel for movement and the passing of time were other key themes.


Contemporaries such as Cézanne and Renoir soon adopted this revolutionary style of working and a loose collective emerged.




But the movement’s memorable name was something of a chance creation. It was an early critic of the Monet’s work Impression: Sunrise (1874) that condemned it sniffily as “Impressionism”. Much to Louis Leroy’s annoyance, the name stuck and soon the effects of Impressionism went beyond the visual arts to embrace music and literature.

Where to go:

You can visit Monet’s beautiful gardens – at Giverny, just north of Paris at the gateway to Normandy – to see how nature inspired his painting during the latter years of his life (go to http://giverny.org for more).

The artist famously painted the cathedral at Rouen during various stages of the day. For details on visiting the historic Normandy town, head to www.rouentourisme.com.

Some of the most celebrated works of the Impressionist movement can be found in the upper level of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley, Degas and Manet are all represented. See www.musee-orsay.fr for visitor information.

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