I know, another impressionist artist - I just love that phase of art, so here are a few highlights from one of my favorites.
- Claude Monet, born in 1840, died in 1926.
- Applied to art school multiple times in his early life, but was denied. Eventually served in the military and was honorably discharged.
- Started seriously painting in 1862 (at the age of 22) - almost no paintings exist from this period in his life.
- Participated in his first independent artist's exhibit in 1874 - continued to participate in exhibits for the rest of his life
- Throughout his career Monet worked with only 6 colors on his palette - lead white, cadmium yellow, vermilion, deep red, cobalt blue, and emerald green
- In 1883 (at the age of 43) Monet started painting on multiple canvasses at one time. He would pick a site, set up multiple canvasses and work on each one in succession as the light changed. He could have up to 12 canvasses going at one time in one site.
- In 1887, at the age of 47, Monet achieved his first year of financial stability as an artist.
- 1888 was Monet's first year of painting wheat stacks
- 1892 was the first year Monet painted the Rouen cathedral
- The water pond was first drafted by Monet in 1893 - it was eventually built on his property at Giverny. Over the years the pond evolved and grew to involve an island, 4 bridges and multiple installments of plants
- Monet first started painting the water lilies there in 1903. He continued to paint water lilies until his death in 1926.
- Throughout the years Monet was seized by bouts of melancholy - it is estimated that he may have destroyed as many canvasses as are still in existence today during those low times.
- In 1908 Monet started going blind - but he continued to paint until 1926, when he died.
- Look at the cathedral paintings - can you tell which was painted at what time of day? Can you feel the differences in the colors?
- The same with the japanese bridge in his garden - can you feel what time of day Monet might have been painting based on the colors?
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