Claude Monet (1840-1926)

Claude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting. The term Impressionism is derived from the title of his painting Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant). It hung in the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874 and is now displayed in the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris.

Monet suffered from cataracts. His later paintings of the lily pond and the Japanese bridge at Giverny, when adjusted to reflect the typical symptoms of cataracts, appear dark and muddied. The artist's signature vibrant colors are muted, replaced by browns and yellows. Monet wrote of his growing frustration with his deteriorating vision, describing how he was forced to memorize where the colors were placed on his palette. In 1914 he wrote in his correspondence "colors no longer had the same intensity for me...reds had begun to look muddy...my painting was getting more and more darkened. on the one hand trusting solely to the labels on the tubes of paint and, on the other, to force of habit".

As his vision continued to deteriorate, Monet's paintings became darker, less detailed and more abstract. The subject matter of the above painting from 1920 - the Japanese footbridge at Giverny, immortalized in his earlier water lily paintings - is barely recognizable.

In 1923, Monet finally agreed to have the cataract in his right eye surgically removed. The procedure had been available since the turn of the century, but he had until then refused it. Although he never had his left eye operated on, he was eventually fitted with effective corrective lenses.

Monet died of lung cancer on 5 December 1926 at the age of 86 and is buried in the Giverny church cemetery.

Regate a Argenteuil oil on canvas, 48x75cm Musee d'Orsay	Parlament in London oil on canvas, 81x92cm Musee d'Orsay	Camille Monet at her tapestry loom oil on canvas, 1875 Barnes Foundation, Merion, PA	Bathing at La Grenouillere oil on canvas, 1869, 73x92cm
Boulevard des Capucines oil on canvas	Women in the Garden oil on canvas, 1886	Garden at Sainte Adresse oil on canvas	Le Pont du chemin de fer a Argenteuil oil on canvas Christie's, New York
La Grenouillere oil on canvas, 1869, 74.6x99.7cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York	Palazzo Dario, Venice oil on canvas, 1908, 92.3x73.6 cm National Museum Wales, Cardiff	Garden at Giverny oil on canvas, 1900, 81x92 cm Musee d'Orsay, Paris	Rue Montorgueil oil on canvas, 1878 Musee d'Orsay, Paris
Bordighera oil on canvas, 1884 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York	Jardin à Sainte-Adresse oil on canvas, 1867 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York	Woman with a Parasol, (Camille and Jean Monet) oil on canvas, 1875, 100x81cm National Gallery of Art, Washington (D.C.)	Water Lilies oil on canvas Private Collection
Field of yellow irises at Giverny oil on canvas, 1887, 45x100cm Musee Marmottan, Paris	Bend in the Epte River near Giverny oil on canvas, 1888 The William L. Elkins Collection	Under the Pines, Evening oil on canvas, 1888 Philadelphia Museum of Art	Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois Paris oil on canvas, 1867, 79x98 cm Alte Nationalgalerie Berlin
Jean Monet on His Hobby Horse oil on canvas, 1872, 60.6x74.3cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art	Madame Monet in a Japanese Costume oil on canvas, 1875 National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.	Rouen Cathedral, Facade (sunset), oil on canvas, 1892-1894 Musee Marmottan Monet, Paris	Railroad Bridge, Argenteuil oil on canvas, 1874, 79x98cm Philadelphia Museum of Art
Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies oil on canvas, 1899 The Metropolitan Museum of Art	Le bateau atelier (The Boat Studio) oil on canvas, 1876, 72x59.8cm The Barnes Foundation, Merion, Pennsylvania	Weeping Willow oil on canvas, 1918, 131x110.3cm Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio	Rock Arch West of Etretat (The Manneport) oil on canvas, 1883, 65.4x81.3 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Boats on the Beach, Etretat oil on canvas, 1885, 65x81.3 cm The Art Institute of Chicago	Sunflowers oil on canvas, 1881, 101x81cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York	The Saint-Lazare Train Station oil on canvas, 1877 Musee d'Orsay, Paris	Bridge at Argenteuil oil on canvas
Bridge over a Pool of Water Lilies oil on canvas, 1899, 92.7x73.7cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art	The Japanese Bridge oil on canvas, 1918-1924	Wheatstacks (End of Summer) oil on canvas, 1890-91, 60x100cm The Art Institute of Chicago	Meule, Soleil Couchant oil on canvas, 1891, 73.3x92.6cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
An Orchard in Spring oil on canvas, 1886 The Metropolitan Museum of Art	The Pond at Mongeron oil on canvas	The Beach at Trouville oil on canvas, 1870, 38x46cm National Gallery, London	The Saint-Lazare Train Station oil on canvas, 1877, 60x80cm Musee Marmottan, Paris
Water Lillies oil on canvas	Woman Seated under the Willows oil on canvas	Banks of the Seine, Vetheuil oil on canvas, 1870, 38x46cm National Gallery, London	Camille oil on canvas, 1866, 231x151cm Kunsthalle Bremen
Self Portrait with a Beret oil on canvas, 1886, 46x56cm Private Collection	Port-Goulphar, Belle-Ile oil on canvas, 1887 Art Gallery of New South Wales	Poplars in Autumn oil on canvas, 1891 Philadelphia Museum of Art	The Regatta at Argenteuil oil on canvas
The Water Lily Pond oil on canvas, 1900	Sunset at Lavacourt oil on canvas, 1880	Poppies Blooming oil on canvas, 1873 Musee d'Orsay, Paris.	The Studio Boat oil on canvas Kroller-Muller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands
The Parc Monceau oil on canvas, 1876, 60x81cm	Water Lily Pond oil on canvas The Art Institute of Chicago	Poppy Field at Giverny oil on canvas, 1885, 60x73cm Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia USA	The Water-Lily Pond (Japanese Bridge) oil on canvas, 1900 Museum of Fine Arts (United States)
The Customs House at Varengeville oil on canvas, 1897	Camille Monet with Her Child oil on canvas, 1875, 55.3x64.7cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston	Woman in the Garden. Sainte-Adresse oil on canvas, 1867, 82x100cm State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia	Grand Quai at Havre oil on canvas, 1872 State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

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