Claude Monet

Oscar-Claude Monet was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it.

During his long career, he was the most consistent and prolific practitioner of Impressionism's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions of nature, especially as applied to outdoor landscape painting.

Monet was raised in Le Havre, Normandy, and became interested in the outdoors and drawing from an early age. His early works include landscapes, seascapes, and portraits.

Monet's ambition to document the French countryside led to a method of painting the same scene many times so as to capture the changing of light and the passing of the seasons.

Monet's fame and popularity soared in the second half of the 20th century when he became one of the world's most famous painters and a source of inspiration for a burgeoning group of artists.