Claude 'Big Ponds' Monet was born in Paris but spent most of his boyhood (and pocket money) in the port of Le Havre where he sold cartoons to classmates, was described as a rascal by teachers, and met French painter, Gene 'Ozone' Boudin, who convinced the budding young artist the best way to further his career would be to paint al fresco (a smart move, al being the biggest gallery owner in town.)
After doing two years' National Service in Algeria and being completely knocked out by the spectacular light plus an equally spectacular bout of typhoid, Claude returned to France where he trained at the Suisse Art School. He then began work at the studio of Gleyre who offered discount rates to skint young daubers like Claude and his contemporaries, Renoir, Bazille, Sisley and Pissarro, charging just 10 francs for the use of studio and models (and for five more, you got to take them home for the weekend). Claude also spent many happy hours painting out of doors at Argenteuil and in the Forest of Fontainebleau, an experience that has given rise to some confusion over what are believed to be his 'almost magical' flicks of white light but are, in essence, large dollops of wood pigeon excrement.
In the late C19 Claude became a serial haystack painter and was only cured of this affliction when he fell victim to the even more powerful mass neurosis known as 'compulsive gardening disorder' (celebrated in his lost masterpiece, 'Bonjour Monsieur Titchmarsh'), finally using the fruits of long-awaited success to externalise this new obsession and buy his stonking great spread at Giverny*, now so beloved of modern day Monet-maniacs who visit the place by the trug load to venerate the master (and steal dahlia cuttings). * Graceland for artaholics
The Japanese Bridge
Claude Monet
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Impression, Rising Sun
Claude Monet
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San Giorgio Maggiore
Claude Monet
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The Artist's Garden at Giverny
Claude Monet
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Water Lilies 1908
Claude Monet
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Water Lily Pond,1918
Claude Monet
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Poppy field, 1873
Claude Monet
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Barche sportive a Argenteuil
Claude Monet
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Field of poppies, Vetheuil
Claude Monet
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Woman in a Garden, 1867
Claude Monet
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Un viale del giardino di Monet a Giverny (Detail)
Claude Monet
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Tulip Fields with Windmill
Claude Monet
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The Poppy Field
Claude Monet
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View of the Sea at Sunset
Claude Monet
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Barques a Argenteuil
Claude Monet
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Tramonto sulla Senna, 1874
Claude Monet
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Woman with sunshade
Claude Monet
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Stiller Winkel im Garten von Montgeron od. Die Dahlien
Claude Monet
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Fisherman's Cottage on the Cliffs at Varengeville
Claude Monet
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Ile St. Martin - Vérheuil
Claude Monet
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Der Rosenstrauch
Claude Monet
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Regatta at Argenteuil
Claude Monet
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Thames Below Westminster
Claude Monet
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Waterlilies at Giverny (1908)
Claude Monet
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Houses Of Parliament, 1903
Claude Monet
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Bridge at Argenteuil, 1874
Claude Monet
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Dame dans le jardin
Claude Monet
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Chemin dans les Bles
Claude Monet
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Balcony on the sea at Saint Adresse
Claude Monet
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Waterlilies & Agapanthus, 1914-17
Claude Monet
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