Claude Monet: the master who liked to paint as a bird sings

Famous for his lead in the Impressionist movement in France during the 19th Century, painter Claude Monet and his modern methods proved to catalyse the art world.

Oscar-Claude Monet (1840 -1926)

Born in Paris in 1840, the world Monet entered was a traditional one. Then, painters trained under more established artists, often working on their paintings as part of their training. Painters showed their work annually at the Salon (Salon de Paris), which was perhaps the most important event of the year for Western artists and collectors.

But Monet had other interests, like documenting the countryside, particularly the passing of light and seasons. This meant that Monet had to paint quickly, which was most untraditional. Instead of spending months layering up oil paints to create a masterpiece, speed was of the essence and a new kind of paint enabled him to do what he wanted.

Poppy Field, Argenteuil

Modern developments lead to the invention of water-based gouache paint, which didn’t require mixing, was easy to carry around and made for easy brush cleaning. This led Monet to paint outdoors – ‘en plein air’. The necessary speed of documenting light in a painting meant that Monet also had to paint in an untraditional style, creating blobs of colour rather than more representative lines and strokes as you might consider in more classical paintings, pre-dating the Impressionists. This was work you had to step back from, to truly appreciate.