
Happy Birthday Monet!
Did you know that today is one of my favorite artists’ birthday? I had the awesome opportunity to view many of his paintings and inspirations in person a few years ago in Buffalo. You can read more about the experience here.


To celebrate his birthday, here are some quick fun facts about Claude Monet:
- Claude Monet was born November 14, 1840 and died December 8, 1926
- He died at the age of 86, but if he was still alive today he would be 182 years old
- Monet came from a French working class family which was in contrast to many prominent painters during that time period
- He was an impressionist painter – a term given to the movement by art critic Louis Leroy when reviewing Monet’s “Impression, Sunrise” in the first exhibit of the movement in 1874
- The Impressionist movement sought to display the artist’s perception of a subject matter; artists worked en plein air and painted with small touches of paint to capture moments of color and light
- Monet’s wife Camille was the subject of several of his paintings
- Monet designed his own gardens at this home in Giverny and many of his masterpieces were inspired by this beautiful landscape
- He often times reused canvases and because of this many of his paintings may have unknown treasures hidden beneath
- Monet had severe cataracts which may have affected his paintings in later years
- In his last 30 years he painted about 250 oil paintings


Do you have a favorite Monet painting?
Photos (in order of appearance):
- Claude Monet, photograph, 1899, Nadar
- Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge, oil on canvas, 1897-1899, Claude Monet
- Wheatfields (Snow Effect, Morning), oil on canvas, 1891, Claude Monet
- In the Woods at Giverny- Blanche Hoschedé at Her Easel with Suzanne Hoschedé Reading, oil on canvas, 1887, Claude Monet
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