Who was Claude Monet?
How did he go from being bankrupt to building one of the world's most famous
garden homes?
Let's dig into how Monet became the master
of Impressionism.
Claude Monet was born on November 14th, 1840, in Paris.
So in 1845, Monet's family moved
here to the beautiful town of Le Havre.
It is beautiful, picturesque, as you can see, because we are right on the ocean.
And not only did Monet want to paint here and love to paint here, many,
many artists have painted in this exact location. Lots!
Now, Monet's family, they lived here.
But of course, Monet's father wanted him to go into the family
grocery store business.
But Monet had nothing to do with that.
So, of course, he had to paint what he saw.
And many artists, like I said, it painted here.
And the reason being the sun, plenty of sunshine.
And there was a direct train route right from Paris to here.
Absolutely beautiful city you have to visit
On the beaches of Normandy in about 1856, he met fellow artist
Eugene Boudin, who became his mentor and taught him how to use oil paints.
Boudin taught Monet
en plein air, outdoor painting techniques which would come in handy.
He was sixteen years old when his mother died.
He left school and went to live with his aunt
Marie LeCadre.
When Monet traveled to Paris to visit the Louvre,
he witnessed painters copying from the old masters.
Monet, having brought his paints and other tools with him,
would instead go in, sit by a window and paint what he saw outside.
Monet was in Paris for several years
and met painters who would become friends and fellow impressionists.
One of those friends was painter Édouard Manet.
In 1861, Monet joined the army in Algeria,
but after contracting typhoid his and had him discharged
but only if Monet agreed to take an art course at a university.
Monet agreed, but could not stand
the traditional way art was taught at universities.
So in 1862, he became a student of Charles Gleyre
in Paris and met artists such as Pierre Auguste Renoir.
This group of artists started sharing their techniques,
painting the effects of light with broken color and rapid brushstrokes.
This technique later became famous around the world as Impressionism.
Monet's Camille, or the woman in the green dress, brought him recognition in 1866
and was one of many paintings featuring his future wife, Camille Doncieux.
Despite his success as a painter and the birth of their first child, Jean,
in 1868, Monet was in financial distress
and even attempted suicide by throwing himself in the Seine.
After spending time in England, he moved back to Paris,
where he lived in a village on the Seine, painting some of his best known works.
Unfortunately, just a few years later, in 1879, Monet's
wife, Camille, died of tuberculosis, and Monet painted her on her deathbed.
Monet, who now had two sons to take care of by himself, took his grief and painted
some of his most powerful works, from countrysides to seascapes.
In 1883, Monet moved to Giverny
with his two sons, his friend Alice and her six children.
They would later get married in 1892, and Monet
would spend the rest of his life building the most beautiful garden
and painting just about every perspective of it.
Monet died on December 5th, 1926, of lung cancer
and left behind a unique legacy and a body of work
that included over 2500 paintings and drawings.
In fact, in 2008, Le Bassin aux Nymphéas,
sold at Christie's for over $36 million dollars.
Laundry in Paris.
The minute you visit Giverny,
you understand why Monet moved here and spent the rest of his life
creating this beautiful garden with endless perspectives to paint?
Well, thank you so much, Chloe.
I learned so much from you and your expertize are fantastic.
And the fact that they're not really water lilies, I'm just blowing my mind.
So, anyway. Oh, my pleasure. Yeah.
Well, thank you so.