Monet Paintings: 5 Characteristics of Monet’s Work

Claude Monet was a French painter who helped launch the artistic movement known as Impressionism. Born in Paris but famous for his landscapes of the French countryside, Monet espoused the idea that painters should represent their own perception of a subject rather than try to capture it with photographic realism.

Monet was a practitioner of plein air landscape painting, where an artist works outside amid the landscape they are depicting. Working en plein air and using oil paints as his primary medium, Monet worked primarily from his home in Giverny, part of Normandy located in northwest France. Monet’s paintings were exhibited at Salons in the 1860s, and he worked steadily throughout the 1920s when his eyesight began to fail.

Monet lived for 82 years and was a remarkably prolific painter throughout his life.

• Early life: Oscar-Claude Monet was born in Paris in 1840, but he spent most of his childhood in Normandy. By 1862, after brief military service in Algeria and an unsatisfying stint in art school, Monet began studying with the painter Charles Gleyre, who introduced him to Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, and Frédéric Bazille, among others.
• Rejection from the academy: As Monet sought to make a name for himself in the 1860s Paris art scene, he received rejection from the conservative, traditionalist Académie des Beaux-Arts. Determined not to conform his art to the academy's taste, Monet instead organized a movement of like-minded artists, including Sisley, Renoir, and Camille Pissarro. Their collective became known as the Société anonyme des artistes peintres, sculpteurs et graveurs (Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers).
• Father of Impressionism: Monet's painting Impression, soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise), which depicts the port at Le Havre, was completed in 1872 and prominently exhibited in 1874. It is from this painting's title that the Impressionist movement takes its name. Monet moved around in the 1870s, partly due to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, the poor health of his wife, Camille (who would die in 1879), and the itinerant lifestyle of an up-and-coming artist. During this time, Monet lived in England, the Netherlands, and the French towns of Poissy and Argenteuil.
• Return to Normandy: In 1883, Monet moved to Giverny, where he painted some of his most iconic landscapes, including many images of water lilies and haystacks. Monet would remain based in Giverny through his death in 1926. In his Giverny studio, he fully realized the signature style that would define him as a master among the Impressionists. His subjects were varied, from France’s Rouen Cathedral to England’s Houses of Parliament to the water lily pond behind his house. He remained active until shortly before his death, when failing eyesight overcame his ability to work.

Monet's paintings are famed for both their visual aesthetics and the driving ideas behind them. From small sketches to large canvases, Monet's work tends to share common characteristics, including:

1. 1. Landscape images: Monet made his name as a landscape painter. His subjects were often purely natural, such as the Normandy coast, a grove of poplars, and water lilies. Other subjects were manmade, such as a Japanese bridge or the Houses of Parliament along London's River Thames.
2. 2. Plein air oil painting: Inspired by the French artist Eugène Boudin, Monet spent much of his career painting en plein air—out in the elements with his landscape subjects.
3. 3. Depictions of time passing: Monet created several painting series where he would document the same landscape as time elapsed. He painted more than 30 views of Normandy’s Rouen Cathedral, each at a different time of day. Other time-lapse series included the bank of the Seine, a grove of poplars, and haystacks.
4. 4. Broad brushstrokes creating Impressionist perspective: Bucking the prevailing trends from the beginning of his career, Monet eschewed realism in favor of more emotive perspectives. He achieved this by using thousands of relatively short, wide brushstrokes to create a tapestry of color. Viewed up close, these works may seem undefined, but as the viewer steps away, a clear image emerges.
5. 5. Emphasis on the artist's perspective: Monet's paintings show images as he, the artist, perceived them. With the advent of photography, Monet believed that a painting's main purpose was not to depict the world with crystalline accuracy but rather to express emotion and perspective. Many other Impressionist painters adopted a similar ideology, including Edouard Manet, Mary Cassatt, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, and Camille Pissarro.

Today, paintings by Claude Monet are hung in museums around the world, including the Musée d'Orsay and Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The largest trove of his fine art can be found at the Musée Marmottan Monet, located in Paris's 16th arrondissement. Monet was a prolific painter, and his work sold well thanks to his dealer Paul Durand-Ruel, therefore the list of consequential Monets is long. They include:

• The Artist's Garden at Sainte-Adresse (1867): This seascape features his family, including his father, at Sainte-Adresse.
• La Grenouillère (1869): Monet dreamed of painting the bathing resort at La Grenouillère, located on the Seine River.
• Impression, Sunrise (1872): After a critic used the term “impressionistic” to negatively describe the work, artists began using the word to describe their work.
• Coquelicots, La promenade (Poppy Field) (1873): Monet painted this work while living in Argenteuil.
• Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son (1875): This painting shows a casual family outing.
• Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare (1877): Like many impressionists, Monet depicted modernity.
• Vétheuil in the Fog (1879): This artwork is drawn across the Seine, with the town of Vétheuil in the background.
• Bouquet of Sunflowers (1881): This piece shows sunflowers in a large Japanese vase.
• Haystacks at Giverny (1884): A series of more than 20 paintings of haystacks near his home in Giverny.
• The Cliffs at Etretat (1885): One of his dozens of paintings of the coast of Normandy, this work highlights the Porte d’Aval.
• Women in the Garden (1866–1867): This oil painting showed women in Monet’s garden.
• The Magpie (1868–1869): This snowy vista was painted in Etretat.
• Morning on The Seine Near Giverny (1897): This series was painted between 1896 and 1897.
• Water Lilies and the Japanese Bridge (1899): One of his most famous works, Water Lilies and the Japanese Bridge was captured on his property.
• Grand Canal, Venice (1908): Though Monet had said it was hard to capture Venice’s beauty through art, he painted this scene after a friend invited him to stay at her palazzo.

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