Claude Monet PDF
Preview Claude Monet
K IMPRESSIONS i "> -L_L Tl v- s — ^ *1 ^ ANN WALDRON i Claud was born in France in I 1840, and was one ofthe leaders of the revolu- tionary art movement that has come to be known as Impressionism. Monet showed a great talent for drawing at an early age, and his passion for art led him away from his family home in the port city of Le Havre to Paris, where he studied for several years before breaking away from traditional methods to find his own way. He suffered through years of poverty, the scorn of critics, and the neglect ofart collectors before finding success. Under the influence ofthe landscape painter Eugene Boudin and several older masters, Monet concentrated on nature as his subject, seeking to picture it by capturing the effects of light and color in the open air. Slowly earning attention, he settled down with his family among beautiful gardens at Giverny outside Paris and ended his long and fruitful career, not as he began it, butas one ofthe mostcelebrated figures in France. This is the world of art, where anything is possible. 51 images, including 32 in full color BtLVOJ BEL-TIB J NON-FICTION J 759. 4 Monet 1991 Waldron, Ann Claude Monet 31111015408246 DATE DUE fETOTg? -* AR Z 3 ZOQQ I -*** Jft. - X » &w**® * * i . ii First fmp^essio HARRY ABRAMS, INC £*; PUBLISHERS NEW YORK ^gftp^ SERIES EDITOR: Robert Morton EDITOR: Ellyn Childs Allison DESIGNER: Joan Lockhart PHOTO RESEARCH: Barbara Lyons LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Waldron, Ann. Claude Monet / Ann Waldron. — p. cm. (First impressions) Includes index. Summary: Examines the life and work ofMonet, describing his struggle for artistic recognition and providing examples ofhis paintings. ISBN 0-8109-3620-8 (cloth) — Fra1n.ceMo—neBti,ogCrlaapuhdye—, J1u8v4e0ni-l1e92li6t—eraJtuuvree.nile3.liItmerparteusres.ioni2.smPa(iAnrtte)rs— France—Juvenile literature. [1. Monet, Claude, 1840-1926. — "2. Artists. 3. Painting, French. 4. Painting, Modern 19th — century France. 5. Art appreciation.] I. Title. II. Series. nd553.m7w24 1991 — 759.4 dc20 W Text copyright © 1991 Ann Waldron © Illustrations copyright 1991 Harry N. Abrams, Published in 1991 by Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated, New York A Times Mirror Company All rights reserved. No part of the contents ofthis book may be reproduced without the written permission ofthe publisher Reproduction rights copyright £ 1991 ARS N.Y./SPADEM Printed and bound in Hong Kong Would Be a Painter" "I 6 No More School 21 Hard Times 33 "These Impressionists!" 44 Weathering the Storm 54 6 GlVERNY 64 ^^0mm¥B Water Lilies 80 UST ^IJ.STRATIONS 90 INDEX 92 <-*£?'" itJ< </ mmam I Would ?? Be a Painter" I At sixteen, Claude Monet was already famous in Le Havre, the French port city where he lived. For years he had been drawing cartoons ofhis teachers at school and giving them to his friends. He sold other caricatures to people who asked for them. Demand for his drawings grew until he was getting 20 francs (about $60 today) for each picture. "IfI had continued, I would be a millionaire," Monet said when he was an old man. Monet did more than a hundred caricatures at this price and gave the money to his aunt for safekeeping. Every Sunday he took fresh drawings down to the art-supply store in the Rue de Paris, the main street in Le Havre, where the proprietor framed them and hung them in the window. Young Monet would walk past the shop for the sheerjoy of seeing people admire his work. "I almost burst out of my skin with pride," he said. The proprietor ofthe store liked the tall, sturdy teenager, with olive skin, bright dark eyes, and long dark hair brushed back from his face. Several times he told him that Monet should meet Eugene Boudin, whose paintings of the sea and beaches near Le Havre hung in the window beside Monet's caricatures. "He studied in Paris. He knows his craft, he could give you some good advice," the proprietor said. Like most people in Le Havre, however, Monet did not care for Boudins little pictures. He also thought Boudin was mad because he lived like a A fellow student painted this portrait ofMonet at the age ofeighteen. tramp, slept wherever he could, and used the money he got from his — pictures which he often sold for — only a franc apiece to buy more paints and canvases. Once Boudin and Monet hap- pened to be in the shop at the same time and the proprietor introduced them. Boudin complimented Monet on his caricatures. "They're amus- ing, clever, and spirited," he said. "But you're not going to stop there, I hope. Study, learn to see and to — paint do landscapes." When he was about sixteen Monet was not won over by the Monet drew this caricature, older man. When Boudin invited perhaps a merchant or city Monet to paint landscapes with him official of he Havre. Using in the open air, the boy refused. charcoal for the black lines Finally, one summer day, Monet de- and adding touches ofbrown, He pink, and white chalk, cided to give it a try. bought the young artist made some tubes of oil paint and set out a convincing likeness, but with Boudin. They walked to Rou- exaggerated the cigar. elles, two miles from Le Havre. Monet set up his easel and began to daub his canvas. Then he watched Boudin paint. It was a revelation to watch the older man slowly capture on canvas the precise look and feel of the sky and the landscape. "Suddenly, it was as though a veil had been ripped from my eyes,"
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