A Glance At The Life Of Claude Monet II

Monet returned to France after the Franco-Prussian war, in 1872, and eventually settled in Argenteuil, a town west of Paris, and worked on developing his own technique and painted some of his best-known works. When he visited Louvre, Monet witnessed painters copying from old masters but he preferred to paint that he saw sitting by a window instead.

 

Artworks by Monet and other artists of similar taste were rejected in the 1860s, by the conservative Académie des Beaux-Arts, which held an exhibition at the Salon de Paris annually. In 1873, Monet banded together with several artists to form the ‘Société Anonyme des Artistes, Peintres, Sculpteurs, Graveurs’ (Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers), as an alternative to the Salon and exhibit their artworks independently. 

Monet painted ‘Impression, Sunrise’ in 1872, depicting the landscape of Le Havre port. From the painting's title the art critic Louis Leroy, coined the term "Impressionism". Though it was said with the intent of belittlement, the Impressionists welcomed his remark and wore the term for themselves. They held their first Impressionist exhibition in 1874, not to promote a new style, but to liberate themselves from Salon de Paris’s restraint. The entry fee was set at 60 francs and the artists got to display their works of expertise, without the hindrance of a jury; an estimated 3500 people showed up at the exhibition.

Camille contracted tuberculosis in 1876; Michael, their younger son was born on 17th March 1878 and his birthing gravely weakened his already ill mother. In 1878, Camille was diagnosed with uterine cancer and died on 5th September 1879. Monet painted his wife on her deathbed, during which he later confessed having felt immense joy as well as torment alike. The painting expressed his emotions of intense grief and loss.

Monet painted some of his best paintings of the 19th century, known as the Ice Drift series, following Camille’s death. Monet and his family moved into Ernest Hoschede’s house when Camille was ill, Monet continued to stay there after Camille’s death and then became romantically involved with Ernest’s wife, Alice. Though Ernest and Alice never divorced, Alice and Monet moved to Giverny with their children in 1883, which proved to be his final home. They got married in 1892 after Ernest’s death.

Alice died in 1914, after which Monet started to develop a cataract. He painted a series of weeping willow trees to honour those French soldiers who had fallen. Monet had attained critical and financial success after the 1880s; he died of lung cancer on 5th December 1926. Monet’s belongings were entrusted to French Academy of Fine Arts by his son, Michael, in 1966. More information on Claude Monet is available on BlouinArtinfo.com and Artsy.net.