French painter, founder of French Impressionist painting
Oscar-Claude Monet
was born,
November 14, 1840
in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France.
❦
Along with his friends Renoir, Sisley and Bazille, he was the founder of French Impressionist painting and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement’s philosophy of expressing one’s perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein air landscape painting. The term “Impressionism” derived from the title of his painting “Impression, soleil levant “(Impression, Sunrise), which was exhibited in 1874 in the first of the independent exhibitions mounted by Monet and his associates as an alternative to the Salon de Paris.
Monet’s ambition of documenting the French countryside led him to adopt a method of painting the same scene many times in order to capture the changing of light and the passing of the seasons. From 1883, Monet lived in Giverny, where he purchased a house and property and began a vast landscaping project which included lily ponds that would become the subjects of his best-known works. He began painting the water lilies in 1899, first in vertical views with a Japanese bridge as a central feature and later in the series of large-scale paintings that was to occupy him continuously for the next 20 years of his life.
A painter to admire for the true beauty of his vision. …at least I do.
❦
So here’s a glimpse of this master’s work & words
❦
“I must have flowers, always, and always.”
❦
❦
“Color is my daylong obsession, joy, and torment.”
❦
❦
“Every day I discover
more and more
beautiful things.
It’s enough to drive one mad.
I have such a desire
to do everything,
my head is bursting with it.”
❦
❦
“Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love.”
❦
❦
“My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece”
❦
❦
“I would like to paint the way a bird sings.”
❦
❦
“The further I get, the more I regret how little I know…”
❦
❦
“It’s on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way. So we must dig and delve unceasingly.”
❦
❦
“What keeps my heart awake is colorful silence.”
❦
❦
“I’m not performing miracles, I’m using up and wasting a lot of paint…”
❦
❦
“The richness I achieve comes from nature, the source of my inspiration. ”
❦
❦
“Everyday I discover more and more beautiful things. It’s enough to drive one mad. I have such a desire to do everything, my head is bursting with it.”
❦
❦
“I can only draw what I see.”
❦
❦
“Water Lilies’ is an extension of my life. Without the water the lilies cannot live, as I am without art.”
❦
❦
“I don’t think I’m made for any earthly kind of pleasure.”
❦
❦
“No one but myself knows the anxiety I go through and the trouble I give myself…”
❦
❦
“For me, a landscape does not exist in its own right, since its appearance changes at every moment; but the surrounding atmosphere brings it to life – the light and the air which vary continually. For me, it is only the surrounding
❦
❦
“If the world really looks like that I will paint no more!”
❦
❦
“Impression — I was certain of it. I was just telling myself that, since I was impressed, there had to be some impression in it … and what freedom, what ease of workmanship! Wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished than that seascape.”
❦
❦
“The essence of the motif is the mirror of water, whose appearance alters at every moment.”
❦
❦
“…Every day I discover even more beautiful things. It is intoxicating me, and I want to paint it all – my head is bursting…”
❦
❦
“The Seine. I have painted it all my life, at all hours of the day, at all times of the year, from Paris to the sea…Argenteuil, Poissy, Vétheuil, Giverny, Rouen, Le Havre.”
❦
❦
“I get madder and madder on giving back what I feel.”
❦
❦
“When you go out to paint, try to forget what objects you have before you, a tree, a house, a field or whatever. Merely think here is a little square of blue, here an oblong of pink, here a streak of yellow, and paint it just as it looks to you, the exact color and shape.”
❦
Photos
❦
I’ve chosen two musical pieces by
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky [1840-1893]
Violin Concerto In D, Op.35, TH. 59 – 2. Canzonetta (Andante)
❦
Anne-Sophie Mutter · Wiener Philharmoniker · Herbert von Karajan
&
Sérénade mélancolique In B Flat Minor, Op.26, TH 56
❦
Gidon Kremer · Berliner Philharmoniker · Lorin Maazel
❦
For more information on Monet:
https://www.claudemonetgallery.org/
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cmon/hd_cmon.htm
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/claude-monet
https://www.moma.org/artists/4058
https://www.nga.gov/features/slideshows/claude-monet.html
https://www.musee-orangerie.fr/en/artist/claude-monet
https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/claude-monet
https://www.tate.org.uk/kids/explore/who-is/who-claude-monet
Marina Kanavaki 
Monet has always been one of my favorite painters. Scrolling through this many paintings in progression, I can see his obsession with color and light. Thank you for including the quotations. I feel the same way about writing that he does about painting.
Oh yes, and his colors aim straight to the heart. I get an instant ‘soul smile’ when I see his paintings. I know what you mean!
I like “soul smile.” I’ll have to remember it!
I couldn’t find another way to describe it… 😉
😀
One of my fave artists. The Impressionist movement is a lot of where it’s at for me… in terms of art I like.
OMG… he was incredibly prolific. I’d like to do the Art Gowns Models in this style. Of course I also want to do them in cubist. LOL! So much inspiration, so little time.
“I can only draw what I see.”
I know I’ve mentioned this to you before, but I always wondered if these artists had bad eyesight.
I had bad eyes my entire life, and without my glasses, my world looks like Monet’s world.
Madame Monet looks stunning in her Japanese kimono.
Thank you for this, Marina! The music is the perfect company to this post!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxo
Oh, I agree with you and I too love madame Monet in her kimono!
On eyesight, yes I remember and there is a point in what you say, as in one is ‘forced’ (naturally) to open up the inner eyesight. I’ve also got defective eyesight as I do not have stereoscopic sight and, as my ophthalmologist said, compensate by calculations my brain does automatically. Weird but it dies keep me from … bumping on to various objects! 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤕🤣😂🤣😂🤣
🤗😊❤😊🤗
Interesting. Huh, so you have to compensate, and you have learned how to.
When they did my cataracts, I chose to be slightly myopic instead of being able to drive without glasses. I don’t care about wearing glasses when I drive, but I want to able to see close up without reading glasses.
So, I see better than ever, but I have a drop out spot that runs about 45 to 70 cm from my eyes. Glasses don’t work. No glasses doesn’t work. The depth perspective is off.
The only thing is I have broken many glasses in that spot.. you know like I think I’m putting a glass near the edge of the counter, and it lands on the floor, and breaks.
😂🤣😂🤣😂🤕🤣😂🤣😂🤣
🤗😊❤😊🤗
Oh, I’m familiar with that one!!!!! 🤣😂🤣😂🤣
I’ve got a good combo of shortsighted, presbyopia, astigmatism and lately long distance is also becoming a thing! 😉😂🤣 so I wear multifocals which probably make my eyes lazier! I know now that I never should have gone multifocal. Better try harder than making the eyes lazy! 🙄🙄🙄
I don’t know? Why not see better? Why spend life seeing worse? You can always take the glasses off time to time for certain projects.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Well, that was the argument, my optometrist had, hence, I wear them all day long! 😉
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
lol xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
😘🤗😘🤗😘
Monet is my favorite artist! So beautiful colors and I love that technique! Great post!
Oh, I agree with you! Thank you for your kind words and visit!
He really is the superlative master, isn’t he. Just superb 😊❤️
Oh, indeed Ken, superlative and superb are just right for this man!!!! 🙂 🙏🙏😊
Je pense que nous pouvons voir, l’homme connaissait les couleurs! Tellement agréable de voir vibrant mais pas criard … une erreur que font tant d’artistes, à mon avis.
Alright, alright… I cheated. I got some help from Google Trans. Here’s the original.
I think we can say, the man knew color! So nice to see vibrant but not gaudy … a mistake so many artists make, in my opinion. 😅
Tu as raison mon ami!!!!! [from the very little I remember since 7yrs old! 😉 ]
Happy Monday!
Great selection… some of them really pulled me in. 😊🙂
…and you’re not the only one! 😉
ha ha… guess so! 😁
😂🤣😉😉😉
🇫🇷⚜️🍇⛷️🍾🍷🙂
🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷!!
Such a passionate and yet humble artist. His garden paintings are exquisite. I would love to visit Giverny one day. A truly beautiful post, Marina. 😍🤗
Oh, yes, I’d also love to visit that place! He painted beauty with his heart…
Thank you, my dear Sylvia! xoxoxoxoxo
What a beautiful post. Monet was so prolific. Thank you for the clear photos – with many paintings I’d never seen before. So much beautiful material!
Hi, my friend. So glad you enjoyed this post and Monet’s amazing work!
The entire series on great artists is terrific.
Awww….. thank you, my friend!
🙂
Happy Happy Birthday, Claude Monet. You art continues to inspires us all. Marina – thank you for this wonderful post!
It really does… continue to inspire us!
Thank you, my dearest friend. Many hugs and wishes for a beautiful Sunday.
Marvellous, mesmerising Monet – some excellent quotes you found. What’s not to love here? And in amongst all these great works the “Houses on the Achterzaan” left such an impression with me. Thank you for this feature
Oh, yes…. and I agree with you, but then I see another painting and think the same and then another….. He painted kindness and beauty with all his heart.
Thank YOU!
Sigh His words are almost as beautiful as his paintings! Certainly you enjoy collecting and posting these artists’ works but THANK YOU anyway. I don’t recall ever seeing “The Magpie” before!
Your words make me so happy, Mary Jo!
There are times, especially when I’m very busy and my time is limited that before starting a post on a painter as their birthday approaches, I feel overwhelmed to the point of saying “okay, next year!”
However, as soon as I start seeing their work, I just get completely absorbed and wish the journey would never end. Monet’ was one of those journeys. So, thank YOU, for joining me!
Many hugs.
🤗🤗🤗
Love Monet !
Yeeeeesssssss!!!!!! Me toooo!!!!!! 😉
Wonderful post, Marina. I love Monet’s work.
Oh, me too! Thank you, my friend! So happy you enjoyed the post!
Hooray – an artist I know. Then again, has anyone not heard of Monet? By looking at the images, it is interesting to notice the similarities and differences in his work across time. Have a good rest of the weekend. Yamas!
Thank you, my dear friend!
He is such a dear painter to so many and not at all surprisingly. He just paints beauty…
I hope you also get a relaxing, sunny weekend!
Yamas!
His soft tones soothes the mind!
They do, don’t they?!!! 😉
Yamas!
Beautiful 💜
Beautiful painter indeed! xoxoxo
💜💜
xoxoxoxo
What a great quotation: “I would like to paint the way a bird sings.” The original appears to be “J’aimerais peindre comme l’oiseau chante.” We think of Monet as a 19th-century painter yet he lived through World War I and made it all the way to 1926. Monet was saddened to outlive his painter friends. Bazille, whom you mentioned, didn’t even make it to age 30. Renoir was the last to die before Monet, living until 1919.
Must have been sad indeed for him….
and on that quotation, he probably meant , with the ease and beauty of a bird, and that he certainly did! 😉