Claude Monet
1840-1926 · French (Paris/Giverny) · Impressionism
Known for: Father of Impressionism who painted light itself - water lilies, haystacks, and cathedrals dissolving into color
Monet gave Impressionism its name when his painting Impression, Sunrise was mockingly titled by a critic. He painted the same subjects - haystacks, cathedrals, water lilies - in different light, obsessively documenting how perception changes.
He was poor for decades, designed the water garden at Giverny specifically to paint it, and spent his final 30 years painting those water lilies. Cataracts gave his late work an increasingly abstract quality. He painted until his death at 86.
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