Claude Monet "Waterlilies" biography about Monet and his life and his early works and his mentors and teachers.

Essay by kenyonsmomCollege, UndergraduateA+, November 2003

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Claude Monet was born November 14, 1840 in rue Laffite, Paris. His family moved to Le Harve in 1845, where Monet's father entered a business venture with his brother in law. Monet began school in 1951 where he began to learn drawing from Francois-Charles Orchard. Early on, he had a dislike for formal education, and began to draw caricatures for the townspeople of Le Harve. As a teenager, he made a nice living selling the caricatures and some of his work was displayed in the window of a local art supply shop.

It was in this display case where Monet broke out of drawing simple caricatures and became the impressionist he is known as today. Eugene Boudin displayed his paintings in the very same store and upon seeing Monet's work became very impressed with the young artist. Boudin convinced Monet to work out of doors with him and to try oils and pastels.

At first, Monet hated the works of Boudin. They were small, timid, and very different from most contemporary works. Once Boudin convinced Monet to try open-air painting session Monet declared, "Suddenly a veil was torn away, my destiny as a painter opened up to Me.", and so Boudin became his mentor.

In August and September 1859, he made his debut at an art exhibition in Le Harve with a landscape in oils. This experience greatly impressed Monet and in the spring of the following year, he moves to Paris to study painting. He found himself at the Salon, which is a Frances official annual painting exhibit, where he admired painting from great artist such as Troyon and Boudin. Against his father's wishes, he begins to study at the Academe Suisse.

In the year 1861, Monet was selected by lottery for military service in Algiers. Monet contracted typhoid...