Claude MonetBorn in 1840, Claude Monet lived all his life along the River Seine. He always preferred to paint outdoors and is often described as the father of Impressionism.
Second only to his passion for painting was his love of nature and gardening; he once paid a woodcutter to spare a row of trees he was painting.
In 1883, while still very poor Monet rented the green and pink house at Giverny which became a beautiful home for his extended family.
Over the years his fame increased and he became very rich indeed eventually buying his house and employing gardeners to help create the water gardens, the subject of much of his later work.
Monet was immensely disciplined, usually rising at 4 a.m and always insisting that the house ran like clockwork.
He set equally high standard for his work: on one occasion a gardener was ordered to burn several paintings which Monet considered unsuccessful; on another, Monet threw his canvas, easel and brushes into the water.
During the First World War, fighting went on so near Monet’s house that he could hear the guns, but although his son was skilled in action, Monet refused to leaved his garden.
Monet died in Giverny on December 5, 1926.
Claude Monet
