Claude Monet

Claude Monet is widely considered the quintessential figure of the French Impressionist movement. In fact, the movement's name was derived from his 1872 painting, "Impression, soleil levant" (Impression, Sunrise). He dedicated his career to capturing the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere.

Monet's massive "Water Lilies" (Nympheas) canvases are permanently housed in the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris, France, displayed in two oval rooms exactly as he intended. Other prominent pieces from this series are scattered across major museums globally, including the MoMA in New York and the Musée d'Orsay. He painted these masterpieces in his garden at Giverny.

In 1883, Claude Monet moved to a house in Giverny, France, where he lived until his death in 1926. He meticulously designed and cultivated his famous gardens there, which featured a Japanese-style bridge and a water garden. These gardens became the primary subject of his late masterpieces.

Later in life, Claude Monet developed bilateral cataracts, which significantly altered his perception of color, causing his paintings to take on a more reddish and yellowish hue. He underwent surgery to remove the cataracts in 1923, which left him seeing ultraviolet light in his left eye. Despite his declining vision, he continued to paint prolifically.