Claude Monet

Oscar-Claude Monet was born in Paris, France, to Claude Adolphe Monet and Louise Justine Aubrée Monet. His father was a grocer and his mother was a singer.

Monet's family moved to Le Havre, where he began attending school and developed an early interest in drawing and painting.

Monet's mother, Louise Justine Aubrée Monet, passed away, leaving a significant emotional impact on the young artist.

Monet’s charcoal caricatures began to gain recognition and he started selling them for a good price, marking his first public success as an artist.

Monet was conscripted into the First Regiment of African Light Cavalry in Algeria, where he spent two years of his required seven-year service before illness led to his early discharge.

Upon returning to Paris, Monet studied under Charles Gleyre, where he met future Impressionist painters Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, and Frédéric Bazille.

Monet married Camille Doncieux, who had been his model and the mother of his first son, Jean. The couple had a second son, Michel, in 1878.

Monet and his fellow artists, including Renoir, Degas, and Pissarro, organized the first Impressionist exhibition, where Monet’s painting 'Impression, Sunrise' gave the movement its name.

Monet moved to Giverny, a small village in northern France, where he would live for the rest of his life and create many of his most famous works, including the Water Lilies series.

Claude Monet died of lung cancer at his home in Giverny, surrounded by his family. He was buried in the Giverny church cemetery, leaving behind a legacy as one of the most influential artists of the Impressionist movement.