This week students at Duke of Connaught and Blessed Sacrament created their own spring painting inspired by the French artist, Claude Monet. We used a variety of oil pastels, chalk pastels and watercolour paint. Everyone did such a great job!
“My only merit lies in having painted directly in front of nature, seeking to render my impressions of the most fleeting effects.”
-Claude Monet
Claude Monet was born in Paris, France in 1840. When he was young he did not like being confined to a classroom and was more interested in being outside. He filled his school books with sketches of people, including caricatures of his teachers.
Monet loved to set up his easel outside and paint his pictures en plein air. He even had a small houseboat and would paint the scenes he saw from that view.
Monet was a founder of Impressionist Painting. Monet would use strong colours and bold short brushstrokes. Turning away from the blended colours and evenness of classical art, he placed colours side by side to create a division of colours. The term Impressionism comes from the title of his painting: Impression, Sunrise.
Monet painted scenes over and over again in various light and weather conditions. His goal was to capture the light and the way it reflected off objects, such as water. He was often accompanied by Renoir, Sisley and Bazille on these painting sojourns. He was also friends with Pissarro and Edouard Manet.
In 1892, Claude Monet moved to Giverny, France. It had a garden, pond, orchards and a bridge that would serve as a source of great inspiration for the artist – including his most famous work, The Water Lilies.
Despite developing cataracts in his right eye, Monet continued to paint until his death in 1926. He was 86 years old.
Art example: Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge (1899).