10 Amazing Facts About Claude Monet and 10 of His Greatest Paintings

Born Oscar-Claude Monet in Paris on November 14, 1840, he went by the name Oscar throughout his childhood to distinguish himself from his father, Claude. His family members called him exclusively Oscar during his youth, but he stopped using that first name at the age of twenty, signing his works Claude Monet or simply Monet.

Painting a series of works became a central element of Monet’s Impressionist technique, as he sought to capture the way light and atmosphere transformed identical scenes throughout his days of painting. Working outdoors and observing nature directly, he created more than thirty paintings depicting Rouen Cathedral alone.

Monet was diagnosed with a cataract around 1912, and his condition worsened considerably in his final years. As a result, his color palette shifted toward dominant shades of red, purple, and blue in his late works. Surgery on one eye in 1923 further impaired his vision.

After settling in Giverny in 1883, Monet personally planned and supervised the layout of the garden until his death in 1926. He regarded the water lily pond and the plantings as artistic creations, hiring gardeners but remaining deeply involved, to the point of constantly altering the arrangements.

Created in 1872, “Impression, Sunrise” depicts the port of Le Havre at dawn and was exhibited at the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874. The critic Louis Leroy used this title derisively to mock the free-spirited style. The group adopted “Impressionism” as its official name, thereby turning the insult into a permanent identity.

His first wife, Camille Doncieux, died in 1879 at the age of 32 after a long illness, followed by his second wife, Alice Hoschedé, in 1911. His eldest son, Jean, died in 1914 at the age of 46. Despite these tragedies, Monet lived to be 86. He died in 1926 after finally achieving immense fame.

Throughout his career, Monet’s perfectionism led him to tear up, burn, or otherwise destroy canvases he deemed unsatisfactory, thereby eliminating perhaps as many as a hundred works. In a single incident in 1908, he destroyed at least fifteen major canvases depicting water lilies just before an exhibition.

After briefly attending the Swiss Academy, the artist rejected the traditional academic training, which emphasized classical techniques and studio work. His encounter with the landscape painter Eugène Boudin in Le Havre proved decisive, as Boudin took him under his wing and encouraged him to paint en plein air.

The Water Lilies series, which comprises approximately 250 paintings, dominated his output from the 1890s through the 1920s, despite his severe visual impairment. The large panels created specifically during his final decade—including the monumental works donated to France and installed at the Orangerie—were painted while he was suffering from cataracts.

Monet was baptized a Catholic as a child but became an atheist as an adult. He refused the last rites upon his death on December 5, 1926, in order to remain faithful to secular republican ideals until the very end. His views aligned with civil marriage and the rejection of religious rituals.

Let us now turn to the breathtaking paintings that cemented Monet’s reputation as one of the most influential and beloved artists in history.

This oil painting depicts the port of Le Havre at dawn. It was painted in 1872 from the window of Monet’s hotel, which overlooked the industrial port. The art critic Louis Leroy used it derisively to coin the term “Impressionism” to describe the entire movement. The sun appears brighter due to its intense orange color, yet it harmonizes with the luminosity of the surrounding sky.

This series comprises approximately 250 oil paintings and was created between the late 1890s and Monet’s death in 1926. Eight large decorative panels, presented to France as a symbol of peace after World War I, were installed at the Musée de l’Orangerie in 1927.

Depicting Monet’s first wife, Camille, and her son Jean on a windy hill in Argenteuil, this work was painted en plein air. Monet used a low vantage point, looking up at the figures, with loose, spontaneous brushstrokes that capture the movement of the wind in Camille’s dress and veil.

The Japanese Bridge depicts a Japanese-style bridge that Monet designed and built over his water lily pond in the garden he acquired in Giverny. In 1899, Monet painted a dozen versions from identical vantage points, focusing on the bridge in the center of his water garden’s microcosm.

Monet painted more than thirty views of the west facade of Rouen Cathedral during the winters and springs of 1892–1893. He worked on several canvases at the same time, moving from one to another as the light changed throughout the day. About twenty of these paintings were exhibited together in 1895 at the Galerie Durand-Ruel in Paris.

The main series consists of about twenty-five paintings depicting wheat sheaves in the fields near Monet’s home in Giverny. Monet worked on up to twelve canvases at a time, depending on changing conditions, exploring light, weather, and seasonal changes in identical subjects.

Officially titled The Poppy Field near Argenteuil, this work depicts bright red poppies, with the artist’s wife, Camille, and his son, Jean, in the foreground. The composition uses large, disproportionate patches of poppies in the foreground to create a visual impact, with loose, Impressionist brushstrokes that emphasize light and movement.

Monet painted nearly a hundred views of the Thames in London, including about nineteen of the Palace of Westminster from the terrace of St. Thomas’s Hospital during his stays there. All share the same vantage points and have canvas dimensions of approximately 81 x 92 centimeters, varying according to the time of day, the weather, and the effects of fog.

This painting depicts a popular swimming spot and a floating café on the Seine, near Bougival. Monet painted it en plein air, alongside Pierre-Auguste Renoir. “La Grenouillère” is the nickname given to this spot because of its lively and alluring crowd.

The Magpie, a Winter Scene depicts a solitary magpie perched on a snow-covered fence in a rural field; it was painted during Monet’s stay in Normandy. The painting uses subtle blues, purples, and pinks for the shadows on the snow, demonstrating an early interest in the effects of colored light rather than in pure white snow.