Editing Claude Monet (section)

==Biography==

===Birth and childhood===
Claude Monet was born on 14 November 1840 on the fifth floor of 45 [[rue Laffitte]], in the [[9th arrondissement of Paris]].<ref name="Tucker5">P. Tucker ''Claude Monet: Life and Art'', p. 5</ref> He was the second son of Claude Adolphe Monet (1800–1871) and Louise Justine Aubrée Monet (1805–1857), both of them second-generation Parisians. On 20 May 1841, he was baptised in the local Paris church, [[Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, Paris|Notre-Dame-de-Lorette]], as Oscar-Claude, but his parents called him simply Oscar.<ref name="Tucker5" /><ref>[[Sylvie Patin|Patin, Sylvie]]. "Monet: un œil... mais, bon Dieu, quel œil!" ''[[Découvertes Gallimard]]'', Number 131, série Arts. p. 14</ref> Although baptised Catholic, Monet later became an atheist.{{sfn|Levine|1994|loc=chapter 6}}{{sfn|Butler|2008|p=202}} In 1845, his family moved to [[Le Havre]] in [[Normandy]]. His father, a [[Wholesaling|wholesale]] [[merchant]], wanted him to go into the family's [[Ship chandling|ship-chandling]] and grocery business,<ref>{{Cite book|title=The New Encyclopaedia Britannica|date=1 January 1974|publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica|isbn=978-0-85229-290-7|page=347|language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Tinterow|Loyrette|1994|pp=417}} but Monet wanted to become an artist. His mother was a singer, and supported Monet's desire for a career in art.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.biography.com/people/claude-monet-9411771#early-life-and-career|title=Claude Monet Biography|website=biography.com|language=en-us|access-date=7 February 2017|archive-date=9 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170209051839/http://www.biography.com/people/claude-monet-9411771#early-life-and-career|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 1 April 1851, he entered Le Havre secondary school of the arts.<ref>Arnold, Matthias (2005). ''Claude Monet''. London: H Books. p. 3. {{ISBN|9781904950004}}.</ref> He was an apathetic student who, after showing skill in art from a young age, began drawing caricatures and portraits of acquaintances at age 15 for money.<ref name="Fourny-Dargère_30" /> He began his first drawing lessons from [[Jacques-François Ochard]], a former student of [[Jacques-Louis David]].<ref name="Fourny-Dargère_30">Fourny-Dargère, Sophie, and Claude Monet (1992). ''Monet''. New York: Konecky and Konecky. p. 30. {{ISBN|9781568522487}}.</ref> In around 1858, he met fellow artist [[Eugène Boudin]], who would encourage Monet to develop his techniques, teach him the "[[en plein air]]" (outdoor) techniques for painting and take Monet on painting excursions.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|author=Oxford Art|date=31 October 2011|title=Monet, Claude|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.B00124536|access-date=24 May 2021|website=[[Oxford Art Online]]|doi=10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.B00124536| isbn=978-0-19-989991-3 }}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite journal|last=Greenberg|first=Susan D.|date=2001|title=The Face of Impressionism in 1870: Claude Monet's "Camille on the Beach at Trouville"|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40514596|journal=Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin|pages=66–73|jstor=40514596|issn=0084-3539|access-date=1 June 2021|archive-date=2 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602222235/https://www.jstor.org/stable/40514596|url-status=live}}</ref> Monet thought of Boudin as his master, whom "he owed everything to" for his later success.{{sfn|Levine|1986|pp=65–75}} In 1857, his mother died.<ref name=":11">{{Cite web|last=Isaacon|first=Joel|date=2003|title=Monet, (Oscar-)Claude|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T059077|website=[[Oxford Art Online]]|doi=10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T059077|isbn=9781884446054 }}</ref> He lived with his father and aunt, Marie-Jeanne Lecadre; Lecadre would be a source of support for Monet in his early art career.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":11" />[[File:Claude Monet - Camille.JPG|thumb|upright=0.9|left|''[[The Woman in the Green Dress]]'', [[Camille Doncieux]], 1866, [[Kunsthalle Bremen]]]]

=== Paris and Algeria ===
From 1858 to 1860, Monet continued his studies in Paris, where he enrolled in [[Académie Suisse]] and met [[Camille Pissarro]] in 1859.{{sfn|Brettell|Hayes Tucker|Henderson Lee|2009|pp=63}}{{Sfn|Januszczak|1985|p=304}} He was called for [[military service]] and served under the [[Chasseurs d'Afrique]] (African Hunters), in [[French Algeria|Algeria]], from 1861 to 1862.<ref>House, John (1986). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=gRNCG1SIK_wC&dq=monet+chasseurs&pg=PA5 Monet: Nature Into Art] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230417234746/https://books.google.com/books?id=gRNCG1SIK_wC&dq=monet+chasseurs&pg=PA5 |date=17 April 2023 }}''. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press. p. 5. {{ISBN|9780300043617}}.</ref> His time in Algeria had a powerful effect on Monet, who later said that the light and vivid colours of North Africa "contained the gem of my future researches".<ref>Jeffrey Meyers, "Monet in Algeria", pp 19–24 "History Today" April 2015</ref> Illness forced his return to Le Havre, where he bought out his remaining service and met [[Johan Barthold Jongkind]], who together with Boudin was an important mentor to Monet.<ref name=":4" />

[[File:Monet dejeunersurlherbe.jpg|thumb|{{Lang|fr|[[Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe (Monet, Paris)|Le déjeuner sur l'herbe]]}} (right section), 1865–1866, Paris, with [[Gustave Courbet]], [[Frédéric Bazille]] and Camille Doncieux, first wife of the artist, [[Musée d'Orsay]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/index-of-works/notice.html?no_cache=1&nnumid=025651&cHash=22986e3842|title=Musée d'Orsay: non_traduit|website=www.musee-orsay.fr|access-date=2 February 2021|archive-date=31 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200731235453/https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/index-of-works/notice.html?no_cache=1&nnumid=025651&cHash=22986e3842|url-status=live}}</ref>]]
Upon his return to Paris, with the permission of his father, he divided his time between his childhood home and the countryside and enrolled in [[Charles Gleyre]]'s studio, where he met [[Pierre-Auguste Renoir]] and [[Frédéric Bazille]].<ref name=":11" />{{sfn|Tinterow|Loyrette|1994|p=418}}{{Sfn|Januszczak|1985|p=154}} Bazille eventually became his closest friend.{{sfn|Levine|1986|pp=65–75}} In search of motifs, they traveled to [[Honfleur]] where Monet painted several "studies" of the harbor and the mouth of the Seine.{{sfn|Tinterow|Loyrette|1994|p=420}} Monet often painted alongside Renoir and [[Alfred Sisley]],<ref name=":63"/> both of whom shared his desire to articulate new standards of beauty in conventional subjects.{{sfn|Tinterow|Loyrette|1994|p=419}}

During this time he painted ''Women in Garden'', his first successful large-scale painting, and {{Lang|fr|[[Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe (Monet, Paris)|Le déjeuner sur l'herbe]]}}, the "most important painting of Monet's early period".<ref name=":63">{{Cite book|last=Weidemann|first=Christiane|title=50 Modern Artists You Should Know|publisher=[[Prestel Publishing]]|year=2017|isbn=9783791383385|pages=20}}</ref>{{Sfn|Distel|Dayez|p=131|Hoog|Moffett|1974}}{{Sfn|Januszczak|1985|p=126}} Having debuted at the Salon in 1865 with ''La Pointe de la Hève at Low Tide'' and ''Mouth of the Seine at Honfleur'' to large praise, he hoped {{Lang|fr|Le déjeuner sur l'herbe}} would help him break through into the Salon of 1866. He could not finish it in a timely manner and instead submitted ''The Woman in the Green Dress'' and ''Pavé de Chailly'' to acceptance.<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":10" /> Thereafter, he submitted works to the Salon annually until 1870, but they were accepted by the juries only twice, in 1866 and 1868.<ref name=":4" /> He sent no more works to the Salon until his single, final attempt in 1880.<ref name=":4" /> His work was considered radical, "discouraged at all official levels".{{sfn|Tinterow|Loyrette|1994|p=418}}
[[File:Three_Cows_Grazing_by_Claude_Monet.jpg|thumb|''Three Cows Grazing'', 1868, pastel on paper]]
In 1867 his then-mistress, [[Camille Doncieux]]—whom he had met two years earlier as a model for his paintings—gave birth to their first child, [[Jean Monet (son of Claude Monet)|Jean]].<ref name=":8" /> Monet had a strong relationship with Jean, claiming that Camille was his lawful wife so Jean would be considered [[Legitimacy (family law)|legitimate]].<ref name=":2" /> Monet's father stopped financially supporting him as a result of the relationship. Earlier in the year Monet had been forced to move to his aunt's house in [[Sainte-Adresse]].<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":10">{{Citation|last1=Groom|first1=Gloria|title=The Beach at Sainte-Adresse|date=2014|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1vjqpmr.1|work=The Beach at Sainte-Adresse from Monet Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago|pages=1–6|publisher=[[Art Institute of Chicago]]|isbn=978-0-86559-269-8|access-date=2 June 2021|last2=Shaw|first2=Jill|jstor=j.ctt1vjqpmr.1|archive-date=2 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602231313/https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1vjqpmr.1|url-status=live}}</ref> There he immersed himself in his work, although a temporary problem with his eyesight, probably related to stress, prevented him from working in sunlight.<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":10" /><ref name=":4" /> Monet loved his family dearly, painting many portraits of them such as [[L'Enfant a la tasse|''Child With a Cup, a Portrait of Jean Monet'']]. This painting in particular shows the first signs of Monets' later famous impressionistic work.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-backstory-to-claude-monet_n_1724503|title=What Did This $1.4M Painting Have To Do With Monet's Suicide Attempt?|date=2 August 2012|website=HuffPost|access-date=23 January 2023|archive-date=23 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123115139/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-backstory-to-claude-monet_n_1724503|url-status=live}}</ref>

With help from the art collector Louis-Joachim Gaudibert, he reunited with Camille and moved to [[Étretat]] the following year.{{sfn|Levine|1986|pp=65–75}}<ref name=":11" /> Around this time, he was trying to establish himself as a figure painter who depicted the "explicitly contemporary, bourgeois", an intention that continued into the 1870s.<ref name=":11" /><ref name="House">{{Cite journal|last=House|first=John|date=2003|title=Monet's "Gladioli"|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23183126|journal=Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts|volume=77|issue=1/2|pages=8–17|doi=10.1086/DIA23183126|jstor=23183126|s2cid=189077027|issn=0011-9636|access-date=22 May 2021|archive-date=22 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210522114634/https://www.jstor.org/stable/23183126|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Tinterow|Loyrette|1994|p=418}}{{Sfn|Januszczak|1985|p=154}} He did evolve his painting technique and integrate stylistic experimentation in his plein-air style—as evidenced by ''[[The Beach at Sainte-Adresse]]'' and ''[[On the Bank of the Seine, Bennecourt|On the Bank of the Seine]]'' respectively, the former being his "first sustained campaign of painting that involved tourism".<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":10" />

Several of his paintings had been purchased by Gaudibert, who [[Commission (art)|commissioned]] a painting of his wife, alongside other projects; the Gaudiberts were for two years "the most supportive of Monet's hometown [[Patronage|patrons]]".<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Wagner|first=Anne M.|date=1994|title=Why Monet Gave up Figure Painting|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3046059|journal=The Art Bulletin|volume=76|issue=4|pages=613–629|doi=10.2307/3046059|jstor=3046059|issn=0004-3079|access-date=6 June 2021|archive-date=6 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210606155138/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3046059|url-status=live}}</ref> Monet would later be financially supported by the artist and art collector [[Gustave Caillebotte]], Bazille and perhaps [[Gustave Courbet]], although creditors still pursued him.<ref name=":4" />{{sfn|Tinterow|Loyrette|1994|p=418}}

=== Exile and Argenteuil ===
[[File:Carolus-Duran - Portrait de Claude Monet - Musée Marmottan Monet.jpg|thumb|''Portrait of Claude Monet'', Carolus-Duran, {{Circa|1867}}]]
He married Camille on 28 June 1870, just before the outbreak of the [[Franco-Prussian War]].<ref name="Stuckey">Charles Stuckey "Monet, a Retrospective", Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, 195</ref> During the war, he and his family lived in London and the Netherlands to avoid [[conscription]].<ref name=":11" />{{sfn|Brettell|Hayes Tucker|Henderson Lee|2009|pp=63}} Monet and [[Charles-François Daubigny]] lived in self-imposed [[exile]].{{sfn|Brettell|Hayes Tucker|Henderson Lee|2009|pp=63}}{{efn-ua|{{harvnb|Khan|Thornes|Baker|Olson|Doescher|2010}} conversely describes the exile as forceful.}} While living in London, Monet met his old friend Pissarro and the American painter [[James Abbott McNeill Whistler]], and befriended his first and primary [[art dealer]], [[Paul Durand-Ruel]], an encounter that would be decisive for his career. There he saw and admired the works of [[John Constable]] and [[J. M. W. Turner]] and was impressed by Turner's treatment of light, especially in the works depicting the fog on the [[River Thames|Thames]].<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":11" /><ref name="Bellet">{{cite news| url = https://www.lemonde.fr/arts/article/2018/07/13/les-impressionnistes-peintres-francais-tapis-dans-londres_5330664_1655012.html| title = Henry Bellet, ''Les Impressionnistes, ces peintres français tapis dans Londres'', 13 July 2018| newspaper = Le Monde.fr| date = 13 July 2018| access-date = 2 June 2021| archive-date = 2 June 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210602215834/https://www.lemonde.fr/arts/article/2018/07/13/les-impressionnistes-peintres-francais-tapis-dans-londres_5330664_1655012.html| url-status = live}}</ref><ref name="Lobstein">Dominique Lobstein, ''Monet'', Éditions Jean-Paul Gisserot, 2002, pp. 38, 106-107</ref> He repeatedly painted the Thames, [[Hyde Park, London|Hyde Park]] and [[Green Park]].<ref name=":11" /> In the spring of 1871, his works were refused authorisation for inclusion in the Royal Academy exhibition and police suspected him of revolutionary activities.<ref>The texts of seven police reports, written on 2 June – 9 October 1871 are included in ''Monet in Holland'', the catalog of an exhibition in the Amsterdam [[Van Gogh Museum]] (1986).</ref><ref name="Stuckey" /> That same year he learned of his father's death.<ref name=":4" />

The family moved to [[Argenteuil]] in 1871, where he, influenced by his time with Dutch painters, mostly painted the [[Seine]]'s surrounding area.<ref name="House" />{{sfn|Brettell|Hayes Tucker|Henderson Lee|2009|pp=66}} He acquired a sailboat to paint on the river.<ref name=":4" /> In 1874, he signed a six-and-a-half year lease and moved into a newly built "rose-colored house with green shutters" in Argenteuil, where he painted fifteen paintings of his garden from a [[Panoramic painting|panoramic]] perspective.<ref name="House" />{{Sfn|Bailey|Rishel|Rosenthal|1989|pp=52}} Paintings such as ''Gladioli'' marked what was likely the first time Monet had cultivated a garden for the purpose of his art.<ref name="House" /> The house and garden became the "single most important" motif of his final years in Argenteuil.{{Sfn|Bailey|Rishel|Rosenthal|1989|pp=52}} For the next four years, he painted mostly in Argenteuil and took an interest in the colour theories of chemist [[Michel Eugène Chevreul]].<ref name=":4" /> For three years of the decade, he rented a large villa in [[Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis|Saint-Denis]] for a thousand francs per year. ''Camille Monet on a Garden Bench'' displays the garden of the villa, and what some have argued to be Camille's grief upon learning of her father's death.{{Sfn|Bailey|Rishel|Rosenthal|1989|pp=46-48}}

Monet and Camille were often in financial straits during this period—they were unable to pay their hotel bill during the summer of 1870 and likely lived on the outskirts of London as a result of insufficient funds. An inheritance from his father, together with sales of his paintings, did, however, enable them to hire two servants and a gardener by 1872.<ref name=":8" /><ref>Poulet, Anne L.; Murphy, Alexandra R. (1979). ''Corot to Braque: French Paintings from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston''. Boston: The Museum. p. 92. {{ISBN|0-87846-134-5}}.</ref><ref>Fourny-Dargère, Sophie, and Claude Monet (1992). ''Monet''. New York: Konecky and Konecky. pp. 58, 64. {{ISBN|9781568522487}}.</ref> Following the successful exhibition of some maritime paintings and the winning of a silver medal at Le Havre, Monet's paintings were seized by creditors, from whom they were bought back by a shipping merchant, Gaudibert, who was also a patron of Boudin.<ref name="Stuckey11">Charles F. Stuckey, pp. 11–16</ref>

===Impressionism===
[[File:Monet - Impression, Sunrise.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|''[[Impression, Sunrise]] (Impression, soleil levant)'', 1872; the painting that gave its name to the style and artistic movement. [[Musée Marmottan Monet]], Paris]]

When Durand-Ruel's previous support of Monet and his peers began to decline, Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, [[Paul Cézanne]], [[Edgar Degas]], and [[Berthe Morisot]] exhibited their work independently; they did so under the name the Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors and Engravers for which Monet was a leading figure in its formation.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":11" /> He was inspired by the style and subject matter of his slightly older contemporaries, Pissarro and Édouard Manet.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Haine|first1=Scott|title=The History of France|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=978-0-313-30328-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyoffrance00hain/page/112 112]|edition=1st|year=2000|url=https://archive.org/details/historyoffrance00hain/page/112}}</ref> The group, whose title was chosen to avoid association with any style or movement, were unified in their independence from the Salon and rejection of the prevailing [[Academic art|academicism]].<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite web|last=Samu|first=Margret|date=October 2004|title=Impressionism: Art and Modernity|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/imml/hd_imml.htm#:~:text=In%201874,%20a%20group%20of,and%20Camille%20Pissarro,%20among%20others.|url-status=live|access-date=26 May 2021|website=[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041013160212/http://www.metmuseum.org:80/toah/hd/imml/hd_imml.htm |archive-date=13 October 2004 }}</ref> Monet gained a reputation as the foremost landscape painter of the group.{{sfn|Brettell|Hayes Tucker|Henderson Lee|2009|pp=63}}

At the first exhibition, in 1874, Monet displayed, among others, ''[[Impression, Sunrise]]'', ''The Luncheon'' and ''[[Boulevard des Capucines (Monet)|Boulevard des Capucines]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brodskaya|first=Nathalia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j4F8cbbG5ocC&pg=PA16|title=Claude Monet|date=1 July 2011|publisher=Parkstone International|isbn=9781780422978|via=Google Books|access-date=29 May 2021|archive-date=17 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230417234746/https://books.google.com/books?id=j4F8cbbG5ocC&pg=PA16|url-status=live}}</ref> The art critic [[Louis Leroy]] wrote a hostile review. Taking particular notice of ''Impression, Sunrise'' (1872), a hazy depiction of Le Havre port and stylistic detour, he coined the term "[[Impressionism]]". Conservative critics and the public derided the group, with the term initially being ironic and denoting the painting as unfinished.<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":5" /> More progressive critics praised the depiction of modern life—Louis Edmond Duranty called their style a "revolution in painting".<ref name=":5" /> Leroy later regretted inspiring the name, as he believed that they were a group "whose majority had nothing impressionist".{{sfn|Levine|1986|pp=65–75}}

The total attendance is estimated at 3,500. Monet priced ''Impression: Sunrise'' at 1,000 francs, but failed to sell it.<ref name="Denvir">Bernard Denvir, ''The Chronicle of Impressionism: A Timeline History of Impressionist Art'', Bulfinch Press Book, 1993</ref><ref name="Denvir b">[https://books.google.com/books?id=vehtQgAACAAJ&q=The+Chronicle+of+Impressionism Bernard Denvir, ''The chronicle of impressionism: an intimate diary of the lives and world of the great artists''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230417234804/https://books.google.com/books?id=vehtQgAACAAJ&q=The+Chronicle+of+Impressionism |date=17 April 2023 }}, Thames & Hudson, Limited, 1993</ref><ref name="archives">{{cite web|title=The First Impressionist Exhibition, 1874 – Notes|url=http://www.artchive.com/galleries/1874/74notes.htm#background|website=artchive.com|access-date=10 January 2014|archive-date=10 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140110192506/http://www.artchive.com/galleries/1874/74notes.htm#background|url-status=live}}</ref> The exhibition was open to anyone prepared to pay 60 francs and gave artists the opportunity to show their work without the interference of a jury.<ref name="Denvir" /><ref name="Denvir b" /><ref name="archives" /> Another exhibition was held in 1876, again in opposition to the Salon. Monet displayed 18 paintings, including ''The Beach at Sainte-Adresse'' which showcased multiple Impressionist characteristics.<ref name=":10" />{{Sfn|Januszczak|1985|p=192}}

For the third exhibition, on 5 April 1877, he selected seven paintings from the dozen he had made of [[Gare Saint-Lazare (Monet series)|Gare Saint-Lazare]] in the past three months, the first time he had "synced as many paintings of the same site, carefully coordinating their scenes and temporalities".<ref name=":14">{{Cite journal|last=Dombrowski|first=André|date=2 April 2020|title=Impressionism and the Standardization of Time: Claude Monet at Gare Saint-Lazare|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00043079.2020.1676129?journalCode=rcab20|journal=The Art Bulletin|volume=102|issue=2|pages=91–120|doi=10.1080/00043079.2020.1676129|s2cid=219796908|issn=0004-3079|access-date=5 June 2021|archive-date=5 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210605131953/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00043079.2020.1676129?journalCode=rcab20|url-status=live}}</ref> The paintings were well received by critics, who especially praised the way he captured the arrival and departures of the trains.<ref name=":14" /> By the fourth exhibition, his involvement was by means of negotiation on Caillebotte's part.<ref name=":11" /> His last time exhibiting with the Impressionists was in 1882—four years before the final Impressionist exhibition.<ref name=":13">{{Cite book|last=Brigstocke|first=Hugh|title=The Oxford Companion to Western Art|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2001|isbn=9780198662037|chapter=Monet, Claude}}</ref>{{Sfn|Januszczak|1985|p=276}}

Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Morisot, Cézanne and Sisley proceeded to experiment with new methods of depicting reality. They rejected the dark, contrasting lighting of [[Romanticism|romantic]] and realist paintings, in favour of the pale tones of their peers' paintings such as those by [[Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot]] and Boudin.{{Sfn|Januszczak|1985|p=158}} After developing methods for painting transient effects, Monet would go on to seek more demanding subjects, new patrons and collectors; his paintings produced in the early 1870s left a lasting impact on the movement and his peers—many of whom moved to Argenteuil as a result of admiring his depiction.<ref name=":11" />{{Sfn|Januszczak|1985|p=258}}

<gallery caption="Paintings 1858–1872" heights="150px" widths="180px" perrow="4">
File:Monet, Claude - View At Rouelles, Le Havre (1858).jpg|''View at Rouelles, Le Havre'' 1858, private collection; an early work showing the influence of Corotà Sainte-Adresse and [[Courbet]]
File:Claude Monet - Mouth of the Seine.jpg|''Mouth of the Seine at Honfleur'', 1865, [[Norton Simon Foundation]], Pasadena, California; indicates the influence of Dutch maritime painting.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nortonsimon.org/collections/adv_search.php?req=advsearch&resultnum=1|title=Search the Collection » Norton Simon Museum|website=nortonsimon.org|access-date=18 December 2013|archive-date=20 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220021658/http://www.nortonsimon.org/collections/adv_search.php?req=advsearch&resultnum=1|url-status=live}}</ref>
File:Claude Monet - La Vague Verte.jpg|''The Green Wave'', 1866, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]
File:Claude Monet 024.jpg|''[[Women in the Garden]]'', 1866–1867, [[Musée d'Orsay]], Paris<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/search/commentaire/commentaire_id/women-in-the-garden-3042.html?no_cache=1&cHash=3e14b8b109|title=Musée d'Orsay: Claude Monet Women in the Garden|website=musee-orsay.fr|access-date=18 December 2013|archive-date=14 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150114110848/http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/search/commentaire/commentaire_id/women-in-the-garden-3042.html?no_cache=1&cHash=3e14b8b109|url-status=dead}}</ref>
File:Claude Monet 022.jpg|''[[Woman in the Garden]]'', 1867, [[Hermitage Museum|Hermitage]], St. Petersburg; a study in the effect of sunlight and shadow on colour.
File:Claude Monet - Jardin à Sainte-Adresse.jpg|''[[Garden at Sainte-Adresse]]'' ("Jardin à Sainte-Adresse"), 1867, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437133|title=Claude Monet – Garden at Sainte-Adresse|website=Metropolitan Museum of Art|date=1867 |access-date=11 April 2018|archive-date=30 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220130212525/https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437133|url-status=live}}</ref>
File:Claude Monet - The Luncheon - Google Art Project.jpg|''The Luncheon'', 1868, [[Städel]], which features Camille Doncieux and Jean Monet, was rejected by the Paris Salon of 1870 but included in the first Impressionists' exhibition in 1874.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.staedelmuseum.de/sm/index.php?StoryID=1047&ObjectID=249#sthash.20kjFV1h.dpuf|title=Das Städel Museum – Kunstmuseum in Frankfurt|website=Städel Museum|access-date=21 December 2013|archive-date=24 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224153350/http://www.staedelmuseum.de/sm/index.php?StoryID=1047&ObjectID=249#sthash.20kjFV1h.dpuf|url-status=live}}</ref>
File:Claude Monet La Grenouillére.jpg|''[[Bain à la Grenouillère|La Grenouillére]]'' 1869, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; a small plein-air painting created with broad strokes of intense colour.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437135|title=Claude Monet – La Grenouillère|website=Metropolitan Museum of Art|date=1869 |access-date=11 April 2018|archive-date=24 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124192806/https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437135|url-status=live}}</ref>
File:Claude Monet - On the Bank of the Seine, Bennecourt - 1922.427 - Art Institute of Chicago.jpg|''[[On the Bank of the Seine, Bennecourt]]'', 1868, [[Art Institute of Chicago]]
File:Claude Monet - The Magpie - Google Art Project.jpg|''[[The Magpie (Monet)|The Magpie]]'', 1868–1869. Musée d'Orsay, Paris; one of Monet's early attempts at capturing the effect of snow on the landscape. See also ''[[Snow at Argenteuil]]''
File:Claude Monet, 1870, Le port de Trouville (Breakwater at Trouville, Low Tide), oil on canvas, 54 x 65.7 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest.jpg|''Le port de Trouville (Breakwater at Trouville, Low Tide)'', 1870, [[Museum of Fine Arts (Budapest)|Museum of Fine Arts]], Budapest<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.szepmuveszeti.hu/adatlap_eng/breakwater_at_trouville_low_tide_599|title=Artwork|website=[[Museum of Fine Arts (Budapest)|Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest]]|access-date=22 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150108073226/http://www.szepmuveszeti.hu/adatlap_eng/breakwater_at_trouville_low_tide_599|archive-date=8 January 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>
File:Claude Monet 002.jpg|''La plage de Trouville'', 1870, [[National Gallery]], London. The left figure may be Camille, on the right possibly the wife of [[Eugène Boudin]], whose beach scenes influenced Monet.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/claude-monet-the-beach-at-trouville|title=Claude Monet - The Beach at Trouville - NG3951 - National Gallery, London|first=The National Gallery|last=London|website=nationalgallery.org.uk|access-date=22 December 2013|archive-date=24 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224111702/http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/claude-monet-the-beach-at-trouville|url-status=live}}</ref>
File:Houses on the Achterzaan MET DT719.jpg|''[[Houses on the Achterzaan]]'', 1871, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
File:Claude Monet - Jean Monet on his Hobby Horse.jpg|''Jean Monet On His Hobby Horse'', 1872. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
File:Claude Monet - Springtime - Google Art Project.jpg|''Springtime'' 1872, [[Walters Art Museum]]
File:Ships Riding on the Seine at Rouen by Claude Monet, 1872.jpg|''Ships Riding on the Seine at Rouen'', 1872, [[National Gallery of Art]], Washington DC
</gallery>

=== Death of Camille and Vétheuil ===
[[File:Claude Monet - Camille Monet sur son lit de mort.JPG|thumb|upright=0.7|left|Claude Monet, ''Camille Monet On Her Deathbed'', 1879, [[Musée d'Orsay]], Paris]]
In 1875, Monet returned to figure painting with ''[[Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son]],'' after effectively abandoning it with ''The Luncheon''. His interest in the figure continued for the next four years—reaching its crest in 1877 and concluding altogether in 1890.<ref name=":2" />{{Sfn|Bailey|Rishel|Rosenthal|1989|pp=54}} In an "unusually revealing" letter to [[Théodore Duret]], Monet discussed his revitalised interest: "I am working like never before on a new endeavour figures in plein air, as I understand them. This is an old dream, one that has always obsessed me and that I would like to master once and for all. But it is all so difficult! I am working very hard, almost to the point of making myself ill".

In 1876, Camille Monet became seriously ill.<ref name="Milner_16">Milner, Frank (1991) ''Monet''. New York: Mallard Press. p. 16. {{ISBN|9780792455066}}.</ref> Their second son, [[Michel Monet|Michel]], was born in 1878, after which Camille's health deteriorated further.<ref name="Milner_16"/> In the autumn of that year, they moved to the village of [[Vétheuil]] where they shared a house with the family of [[Ernest Hoschedé]], a wealthy department store owner and patron of the arts who had commissioned four paintings from Monet.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":11" /> In 1878, Camille was diagnosed with [[uterine cancer]].<ref>Jiminez, Jill Berk (2013). ''Dictionary of Artists' Models''. Routledge. p. 165. {{ISBN|1-135-95914-5}}.</ref> She died the next year.<ref name=":11" /> Her death, alongside financial difficulties—once having to leave his house to avoid creditors—afflicted Monet's career; Hoschedé had recently purchased several paintings but soon went bankrupt, leaving for Paris in hopes of regaining his fortune, as interest in the Impressionists dwindled.{{sfn|Brettell|Hayes Tucker|Henderson Lee|2009|pp=63}}<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":11" />

[[File:Auguste Renoir - Claude Monet - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Pierre-Auguste Renoir]], ''[[Portrait of the Painter Claude Monet]]'', 1875, [[Musée d'Orsay]]]]
[[File:Alice Hoschedé, 1878.jpg|thumb|[[Carolus-Duran]], ''Alice Hoschedé'', second wife of Claude Monet and mother of [[Blanche Hoschedé Monet]], 1878]] [[File:Monet and Hoschede families - 1880.jpg|thumb|The Monet and Hoschedé families {{circa|1880}} from left to right: Claude Monet, Alice Hoschedé, Jean-Pierre Hoschedé, Jacques Hoschedé, [[Blanche Hoschedé Monet]], [[Jean Monet (son of Claude Monet)|Jean Monet]], Michel Monet, Martha Hoschedé, Germaine Hoschedé, [[Suzanne Hoschedé]]]]
Monet made a study in oils of his dead wife. Many years later, he confessed to his friend [[Georges Clemenceau]] that his need to analyse colours was both a joy and a torment to him. He explained: "I one day found myself looking at my beloved wife's dead face and just systematically noting the colours according to an automatic reflex".<ref>Berger (1985), p. 194</ref> [[John Berger]] describes the work as "a blizzard of white, grey, purplish paint&nbsp;... a terrible blizzard of loss which will forever efface her features. In fact there can be very few death-bed paintings which have been so intensely felt or subjectively expressive."<ref>{{cite book|last=Berger|first=John|title=The Eyes of Claude Monet from Sense of Sight|year=1985|publisher=Pantheon Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0-679-73722-3|pages=194–195}}</ref>

Monet's study of the Seine continued. He submitted two paintings to the Salon in 1880, one of which was accepted.<ref name=":4" /> He began to abandon Impressionist techniques as his paintings utilised darker tones and displayed environments, such as the Seine River, in harsh weather. For the rest of the decade, he focused on the elemental aspect of nature.<ref name=":63"/>{{Sfn|Januszczak|1985|p=258}} The major event of the winter of 1881 was without any doubt that he again sold his paintings to Durand-Ruel.<ref name=":4" /> Because of Monet's continual difficulty in paying his rent, the landlady at Vétheuil refused to extend his tenancy, and in December 1881 Monet moved with Alice and her children to Poissy. In addition to the debts he had accumulated, there was also the problem of finding a suitable school for his son Jean.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wildenstein |first=Daniel |title=Monet. The triumph of impressionism |date=2015 |publisher=TASCHEN |isbn=9783836551014 |location=Germany |pages=215–218 |language=English}}</ref> The stay in Poissy would not last very long. In December 1882 the Seine had overflowed its banks and there was a danger of flooding the Monet residence.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wildenstein |first=Daniel |title=Monet. The triumph of impressionism. |date=2015 |publisher=TASCHEN |isbn=9783836551014 |location=Germany |pages=229 |language=English}}</ref>

His personal life influenced his distancing from the Impressionists.<ref name=":11" /> In January 1883 he returned to Étretat and expressed in letters to [[Alice Hoschedé]]—who he would marry in 1892, following her husband's death the preceding year—a desire to die.{{sfn|Levine|1986|pp=65–75}}<ref name=":11" />{{Sfn|Bailey|Rishel|Rosenthal|1989|pp=54}} At this time Monet was afraid of losing Alice to her husband, who was suddenly speaking of taking her back. On February 21, Monet and Alice Hoschedé finally met again at Poissy, and there was no more doubt that she would now stay by his side.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wildenstein |first=Daniel |title=The triumph of impressionism |date=2015 |publisher=TASCHEN |isbn=9783836551014 |location=Germany |pages=233 |language=English}}</ref> Alice's third daughter, [[Suzanne Hoschedé|Suzanne]], would become Monet's "preferred model", after Camille.{{Sfn|Bailey|Rishel|Rosenthal|1989|pp=54}}

In April 1883 Monet informed Durand-Ruel that he was searching for a house around Vernon, a city he had frequently passed through while traveling between Paris and Normandy. On April 29 he moved into a rented house in Giverny near Vernon with some of his children, followed by Alice Hoschedé the day after. This house subsequently became the permanent home of the Monet family.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wildenstein |first=Daniel |title=Monet. The triumph of impressionism. |date=2015 |publisher=TASCHEN |isbn=9783836551014 |location=Germany |pages=237–240 |language=English}}</ref> That same year his first major retrospective show was held.{{Sfn|Januszczak|1985|p=258}}

=== Bordighera and a turn to prosperity ===
In December 1883 Claude Monet and Auguste Renoir left Paris by train for a short painting trip to Italy, along the Italian Riviera and to Genoa.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wildenstein |first=Daniel |title=Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné. Letter to De Bellio |date=1979 |publisher=Wildenstein-Plattner-Institute |publication-date=1979 |pages=232 |language=French}}</ref>

On the way back, Monet and Renoir stopped briefly at l´Estaque, near Marseille, to visit Cézanne, before returning to Giverny late December. During this trip Monet discovered the small town of Bordighera which he found particularly attractive: in a letter to Durand-Ruel on January 12, 1884, he described it as “one of the most beautiful places we saw on our trip”<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Wildenstein |first=Daniel |title=Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné. |date=1979 |publisher=The Wildenstein-Plattner-Institute |publication-date=1979 |pages=232 |language=French}}</ref>

In the years leading up to 1883, Bordighera, with its mild climate and stunning coastal views, had become widely popular as a winter destination for tourists, particularly among the European elite as well as artists and intellectuals. One of the town's main attractions were the [[Moreno Gardens]] which, in tourist guidebooks of that time, were described not only as one of the most attractive and delightful locations of the Mediterranean, but also as some of the most beautiful and renowned gardens in Europe.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Palmiro |first=Premoli |title=L'italia Geographica Illustrata |date=1891 |publisher=Nabu Press |language=Italian}}</ref> Earlier in 1883 the famous architect [[Charles Garnier (architect)|Charles Garnier]] wrote a piece in a travel book called Artistic features of Bordighera. In the first chapter, he claims that “in truth, Bordighera is far less Italy than Palestine…” referring to the old town, the free growing palm trees and the exotic gardens. In his text Garnier recommends eight point of views which he finds most interesting for any artist to paint.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hamilton |first=Frederick Fitzroy |title=Bordighera and the Western Riviera |date=1883 |publisher=Edward Standford |isbn=1120267943 |location=London |language=English}}</ref>

Soon after his return to Giverny, Monet wrote to his art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel expressing his desire to go back to Italy and Bordighera for a longer stay. He put forward his desire to go on his own and asked Durand-Ruel not to mention his wish to anyone, especially not to Renoir.<ref name=":6" />  Monet initially intended to spend three weeks in the Ligurian town but ended up staying for a period of almost three months, from January 18 to April 5, during which he produced thirty-eight paintings with Bordighera motifs.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wildenstein |first=Daniel |title=Monet. The triumph of impressionism. |date=2015 |publisher=TASCHEN |isbn=9783836551014 |location=Germany |pages=241–243 |language=English}}</ref> Monet was deeply affected by the beauty of Bordighera and its surroundings, which he described as magic - a fairy tale country.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wildenstein |first=Daniel |title=Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné. Letter to A Duret. |date=1979 |publisher=The Wildenstein-Plattner-Institute |pages=235 |language=French}}</ref>  The unique light and luxuriant vegetation presented themselves as a completely new challenge. In a letter to Alice Horschedé, he wrote “These palm trees are exasperating, and also the motifs are extremely difficult to render, to put down on canvas, everything is so lush”.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wildenstein |first=Daniel |title=Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné. |date=1979 |publisher=The Wildenstein-Plattner-Institute |pages=232 |language=French}}</ref>

During his sojourn in Bordighera Monet had initially intended to paint “orange and lemon trees against the blue sea” but he could not find any that really pleased him therefore he only produced one painting with a citrus tree motif, ''Under the Lemon Trees''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Daneo |first=Angelica |title=Claude Monet. The truth of nature. |date=2020 |publisher=Prestel |isbn=9783791379258 |location=USA |pages=44 |language=English}}</ref> During his stay in Bordighera, Monet went to nearby Dolceaqua where he painted the bridge which he called “a little gem of elegance”.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wildenstein |first=Daniel |title=Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné. |date=1979 |publisher=The Wildenstein-Plattner-Institute |language=French}}</ref>

Some of the most notable compositions from his stay in Bordighera are ''View of Bordighera'', ''Olive Trees'', ''Villas at Bordighera'', ''The Moreno Garden'', ''Valley of Sasso'' and ''Dolceacqua''.

The Bordighera paintings are not so well known to the public as some of his work. One explanation presented<ref>{{Cite web |last=Langlais |first=Pandora |title=The reception of the Riviera paintings |url=https://wpi.art/2019/07/24/claude-monets-encounter-with-the-mediterranean-part-2/ |access-date=14 November 2024 |website=wpi.art The Wildenstein Plattner Institute}}</ref> is that following the Paris Stock market crash of 1882 Monet's art dealer Durand-Ruels suffered a severe financial loss and consequently, he had to pawn several of Monet's Bordighera paintings as soon as he had received them.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wildenstein |first=Daniel |title=Monet. The triumph of impressionism |date=2015 |publisher=TASCHEN |isbn=9783836551014 |location=Germany |pages=218–219 |language=English}}</ref> Monet, who had been eager to hear what critics would say about his latest work, was devastated when he found out that they would never be exhibited. Eventually, after Durand-Ruel left for the United States in 1886, Monet could only express his utter frustration by writing letters where he accused the dealer of being “only concerned with the United States while we (the Impressionists) are being forgotten in France”.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wildenstein |first=Daniel |title=Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné. Letter to Durand-Ruel |date=1979 |publisher=The Wildenstein-Plattner-Institute |pages=271 |language=French}}</ref>

Finally leaving Bordighera, Monet stopped in Menton to paint the Cap Martin and Monte Carlo before embarking on the 24 hour trip back to Giverny.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wildenstein |first=Daniel |title=Monet. The Triumph of Impressionism |date=2015 |publisher=TASCHEN |isbn=9783836551014 |location=Germany |publication-date=2015 |pages=248–252 |language=English}}</ref>

In a letter sent to Monet in 1884, [[Paul Durand-Ruel]] mentions Monet's financial worries, and tells him that both the stockbroker Theodore-Charles Gadala and Georges Clemenceau have purchased paintings.<ref>Paul Durand-Ruel, "Letter to Claude Monet", Correspondence with Claude Monet, May–November 1884, accessed March 29, 2024.</ref> Monet's struggles with creditors ended following his prosperous trips; to Bordighera in 1884,<ref name=":4" />{{Sfn|Januszczak|1985|p=258}} and to the Netherlands in 1886 to paint the tulips. He soon met and became friends with [[Gustave Geffroy]], who published an article on Monet.<ref name=":4" /> Despite his qualms, Monet's paintings were sold in America and contributed towards his financial security.<ref name=":11" /> In contrast to the last two decades of his career, Monet favoured working alone—and felt that he was always better when he did, having regularly "long[ed] for solitude, away from crowded tourist resorts and sophisticated urban settings".<ref name=":15" />{{Sfn|Januszczak|1985|p=258}} Such a desire was recurrent in his letters to Alice.<ref name=":15" />{{Sfn|Bailey|Rishel|Rosenthal|1989|pp=54}}

<gallery widths="180" heights="150" perrow="4" caption="Paintings 1873–1886">
File:Effet de Brouillard by Claude Monet.jpg|''Effet de Brouillard'', {{Circa|1872}}
File:Claude Monet, 1873, Camille Monet on a Bench, oil on canvas, 60.6 x 80.3 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.jpg|''Camille Monet on a Garden Bench'', 1873, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], New York
File:Claude Monet - The Seine at Argenteuil 1873.jpg|''The Seine at Argenteuil'', 1873
File:Claude Monet - The Artist's House at Argenteuil.jpg|''The Artist's House at Argenteuil'', 1873, [[Art Institute of Chicago]]
File:Claude Monet 037.jpg|''Coquelicots, La promenade (Poppies)'', 1873, [[Musée d'Orsay]], Paris
File:Pont Argenteuil Monet 1.jpg|''Argenteuil'', 1874, [[National Gallery of Art]], Washington D.C.
File:Claude Monet The Studio Boat.jpg|''The Studio Boat'', 1874, [[Kröller-Müller Museum]], Otterlo, Netherlands
File:Claude Monet Camille au métier.jpg|''Camille au métier'', 1875, [[Barnes collection]]
File:Claude Monet - Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son - Google Art Project.jpg|''[[Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son]]'', 1875, [[National Gallery of Art]], Washington D.C.
File:Claude Monet-Madame Monet en costume japonais.jpg|''[[La Japonaise (painting)|Madame Monet in a Japanese Kimono]]'', 1876, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
File:Claude Monet Le bateau atelier.jpg|''[[The Studio Boat (Le Bateau-atelier)|Le Bateau-atelier]]'', 1876, [[Barnes collection]]
File:Claude Monet - Flowered Riverbank, Argenteuil.jpg|''Flowers on the Riverbank at Argenteuil'', 1877, [[Pola Museum of Art]], Japan
File:Monet - Vetheuil im Nebel.jpg|''Vétheuil in the Fog'', 1879, [[Musée Marmottan Monet]], Paris
File:The Thaw at Vétheuil - Monet - Thyssen Museum.jpg|''The Thaw at Vétheuil'', 1880, [[Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum]], Madrid
File:La Falaise à Fécamp - Claude Monet - ABDAG003046.jpg|''La Falaise à Fécamp'', 1881, [[Aberdeen Art Gallery]]
File:Claude Monet 023.jpg|''Study of a Figure Outdoors: Woman with a Parasol, Facing Left'', ([[Suzanne Hoschedé]]), 1886, [[Musée d'Orsay]]
File:Claude Monet - Villas at Bordighera - Google Art Project.jpg|Villas In Bordighera, 1884. [[Musée d'Orsay|Musée d´Orsay Paris]]
File:View of Bordighera 1884 Chicago Art Institute.jpg|View of Bordighera, 1884. [[Art Institute of Chicago|Chicago Art Institute]]
File:Moreno Garden Bordighera 1884 - The Norton Museum Miami Florida.jpg|Moreno Garden Bordighera, 1884. [[Norton Museum of Art|The Norton Museum]], Miami.
File:Olive trees study, 1884 - Claude Monet, Private Collection.jpg|Olive trees study Bordighera 1884. Private Collection.
</gallery>

===Giverny===
[[File:Claude Monet's Gardens.jpg|thumb|Monet's [[water garden]], 2019]]
In 1883, Monet and his family rented [[Fondation Monet in Giverny|a house and gardens]] in [[Giverny]], which provided him with domestic stability he had not yet enjoyed.<ref name=":11" /> The house was situated near the main road between the towns of [[Vernon, Eure|Vernon]] and Gasny at Giverny. There was a barn that doubled as a painting studio, orchards and a small garden. The house was close enough to the local schools for the children to attend, and the surrounding landscape provided numerous natural areas for Monet to paint.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goetz |first=Adrien |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/920833948 |title=Monet at Giverny |date=2015 |others=Claude Monet, Éric Sander |isbn=978-2-35340-217-5 |location=Montreuil |oclc=920833948}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Je Bradley |first=Alexander |title=The Gardens and House of Claude Monet |publisher=Blurb, Incorporated |date=6 October 2016 |isbn=9781367106147 |location=United States |language=English}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Monet |first=Claude |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/56966754 |title=Monet's garden |date=2004 |publisher=Hatje Cantz |others=Christoph Becker, Kunsthaus Zürich |isbn=3-7757-1439-1 |edition=[English ed.] |location=Ostfildern-Ruit, Germany |oclc=56966754}}</ref>

The family worked and built up the gardens, and Monet's fortunes began to change for the better as Durand-Ruel had increasing success in selling his paintings.<ref>Mathews Gedo, Mary. ''Monet and His Muse: Camille Monet in the Artist's Life''. University of Chicago Press, 2010. {{ISBN|978-0-226-28480-4}}</ref> The gardens were Monet's greatest source of inspiration for 40 years.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Wildenstein|first=Daniel|title=Monet's Years at Giverny: Beyond Impressionism|publisher=[[Abrams Books]]|year=1978|isbn=9780810913363}}</ref>{{Sfn|Bailey|Rishel|Rosenthal|1989|pp=57}} In 1890, Monet purchased the house.{{Sfn|Januszczak|1985|p=258}} During the 1890s, Monet built a greenhouse and a second studio, a spacious building well lit with skylights.

Monet wrote daily instructions to his gardener, precise designs and layouts for plantings, and invoices for his floral purchases and his collection of botany books. As Monet's wealth grew, his garden evolved. He remained its architect, even after he hired seven gardeners.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.boston.com/travel/getaways/europe/articles/2007/05/20/monets_gardens_a_draw_to_giverny_and_to_his_art/|title=Monet's gardens a draw to Giverny and to his art|publisher=Globe Correspondents|date=20 May 2007|access-date=13 October 2008|first=Robert|last=Garrett|archive-date=2 February 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090202200104/http://www.boston.com/travel/getaways/europe/articles/2007/05/20/monets_gardens_a_draw_to_giverny_and_to_his_art/|url-status=live}}</ref> Monet purchased additional land with a water meadow.<ref name=":4" /> White water lilies local to France were planted along with imported cultivars from South America and Egypt, resulting in a range of colours including yellow, blue and white lilies that turned pink with age.<ref name=AGV>Art Gallery of Victoria, [http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/exhibitions/monets-garden/explore/themes/waterlilies-symbol-of-the-orient-and-modern-science Monet's Garden] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216191410/http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/exhibitions/monets-garden/explore/themes/waterlilies-symbol-of-the-orient-and-modern-science |date=16 December 2013 }}, (retrieved 16 December 2013)</ref> In 1902, he increased the size of his [[water garden]] by nearly 4000 square metres; the pond was enlarged in 1901 and 1910 with [[easel]]s installed all around to allow different perspectives to be captured.<ref name=":11" />{{Sfn|Bailey|Rishel|Rosenthal|1989|pp=57}}

Dissatisfied with the limitations of Impressionism, Monet began to work on series of paintings displaying single subjects—haystacks, [[Populus|poplars]] and the [[Rouen Cathedral]]—to resolve his frustration.<ref name=":63" />{{Sfn|Bailey|Rishel|Rosenthal|1989|pp=54}} These series of paintings provided widespread critical and financial success; in 1898, 61 paintings were exhibited at the Petit Gallery.{{Sfn|Januszczak|1985|p=270, 306}} He also began a series of ''Mornings on the Seine'', which portrayed the dawn hours of the river.''<ref name=":11" />'' In 1887 and 1889 he displayed a series of paintings of Belle Île to rave reviews by critics.<ref name=":15">{{Cite journal|last=Athanassoglou-Kallmyer|first=Nina|date=3 July 2015|title=Le Grand Tout: Monet on Belle-Île and the Impulse toward Unity|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00043079.2015.1023158|journal=The Art Bulletin|volume=97|issue=3|pages=323–341|doi=10.1080/00043079.2015.1023158|s2cid=193179280|issn=0004-3079|access-date=5 June 2021|archive-date=5 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210605131954/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00043079.2015.1023158|url-status=live}}</ref> Monet chose the location in the hope of finding a "new aesthetic language that bypassed learned formulas, one that would be both true to nature and unique to him as an individual, not like anyone else."<ref name=":15" />

[[File:Claude monet in his third studio.jpg|thumb|Monet at work in the large studio at [[Fondation Monet in Giverny|his Giverny home]]]]
In 1899, he began painting the water lilies that would occupy him continuously for the next 20 years of his life, being his last and "most ambitious" sequence of paintings.<ref name="House" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/438008|title=Water Lilies 1919|website=Metropolitan Museum of Art|access-date=6 June 2021|archive-date=30 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220130175532/https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/438008|url-status=live}}</ref> He had exhibited this first group of pictures of the garden, devoted primarily to his Japanese bridge, in 1900.<ref name=":11" /> He returned to London—now residing at the prestigious [[Savoy Hotel]]—in 1899 to produce a series that included 41 paintings of [[Waterloo Bridge (Monet series)|Waterloo bridge]], 34 of [[Charing Cross Bridge (Monet series)|Charing Cross bridge]] and 19 of the [[Houses of Parliament (Monet series)|House of Parliament]].<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal|last1=Khan|first1=Soraya|last2=Thornes|first2=John E|last3=Baker|first3=Jacob|last4=Olson|first4=Donald W|last5=Doescher|first5=Russell L|date=2010|title=Monet at the Savoy|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27801462|journal=Area|volume=42|issue=2|pages=208–216|doi=10.1111/j.1475-4762.2009.00913.x|jstor=27801462|bibcode=2010Area...42..208K |issn=0004-0894|access-date=2 June 2021|archive-date=3 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603034258/https://www.jstor.org/stable/27801462|url-status=live}}</ref> Monet's final journey would be to Venice, with Alice in 1908.<ref name=":11" />

Depictions of the water lilies, with alternating light and mirror-like reflections, became an integral part of his work.<ref>Muir, Kim; Sutherland, Ken. "[https://www.artic.edu/articles/862/color-chemistry-and-creativity-in-monets-water-lilies Color, Chemistry, and Creativity in Monet's Water Lilies] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210606073133/https://www.artic.edu/articles/862/color-chemistry-and-creativity-in-monets-water-lilies |date=6 June 2021 }}". [[Art Institute of Chicago]], 9 February 2021.  Retrieved 6 June 2021</ref> By the mid-1910s Monet had achieved "a completely new, fluid, and somewhat audacious style of painting in which the water-lily pond became the point of departure for an almost abstract art".<ref>"[http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1983.532 Water Lilies] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215135614/http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1983.532 |date=15 December 2013 }}". Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 6 June 2021</ref> [[Claude Roger-Marx]] noted in a review of Monet's successful 1909 exhibition of the first ''[[Water Lilies (Monet series)|Water Lilies]]'' series that he had "reached the ultimate degree of abstraction and imagination joined to the real".{{Sfn|Bailey|Rishel|Rosenthal|1989|pp=58}} This exhibition, entitled ''Waterlilies, a Series of Waterscape,'' consisted of 42 canvases, his "largest and most unified series to date"''.''<ref name=":11" /> He would ultimately make over 250 paintings of the ''Waterlilies''.<ref name=":13" />

At his house, Monet met with artists, writers, intellectuals and politicians from France, England, Japan and the United States.{{sfn|Brettell|Hayes Tucker|Henderson Lee|2009|pp=63}} In the summer of 1887, he met [[John Singer Sargent]] whose experimentation with figure painting out of doors intrigued him; the pair went on to frequently influence each other.{{Sfn|Bailey|Rishel|Rosenthal|1989|pp=54}}

{{Clear}}
<gallery widths="180px" heights="150px" perrow="4" caption="Garden">
File:Monet - Im Garten - 1895.jpeg|''In the Garden'', 1895, Collection E. G. Buehrle, Zürich
File:1914-26 Claude Monet Agapanthus MOMA NY anagoria.JPG|''Agapanthus'', between 1914 and 1926, [[Museum of Modern Art]], New York
File:Claude Monet - Flowering Arches, Giverny.JPG|''Flowering Arches, Giverny'', 1913, [[Phoenix Art Museum]]
File:Water-Lilies-and-Japanese-Bridge-(1897-1899)-Monet.jpg|''Water Lilies and the Japanese Bridge'', 1897–1899, [[Princeton University Art Museum]]
File:Monet - Seerosen 1906.jpg|''Water Lilies'', 1906, [[Art Institute of Chicago]]
File:Monet - Seerosen6.jpg|''Water Lilies'', [[Musée Marmottan Monet]]
File:Nympheas 71293 3.jpg|''Water Lilies'', {{circa}} 1915, [[Neue Pinakothek]], Munich
File:Monet - Seerosen5.jpg|''Water Lilies'', {{Circa|1915}}, [[Musée Marmottan Monet]]
</gallery>

===Failing sight===
{{multiple image
| direction         = vertical
| caption_align     = center
| perrow            = 3
| total_width       = 
| image1            = Clémentel monet in seinen gaerten 20008 1.jpg
| image2            = Clémentel monet in seinen gaerten 20008 2.jpg
| alt1              = A grainy photo of a bearded man standing before a bridge
| alt2              = A grainy photo of a bearded man standing on a path before a tree and pond
| footer            = Monet in his garden at Giverny, {{Circa|1917}}
}}

Monet's second wife, Alice, died in 1911, and his oldest son, Jean, who had married Alice's daughter, Blanche, Monet's particular favourite, died in 1914.<ref name="guggenheim">[http://www.guggenheimcollection.org/site/artist_bio_165.html Biography for Claude Monet] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070120180622/http://www.guggenheimcollection.org/site/artist_bio_165.html|date=20 January 2007}} Guggenheim Collection. Retrieved 6 January 2007.</ref> Their deaths left Monet depressed, as Blanche cared for him.<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":12" /> It was during this time that Monet began to develop the first signs of possible [[cataract]]s.<ref name=":12">Forge, Andrew, and Gordon, Robert, ''Monet'', page 224. Harry N. Abrams, 1989.</ref> In 1913, Monet travelled to London to consult the German ophthalmologist [[Richard Liebreich]]. He was prescribed new glasses and rejected cataract surgery for the right eye.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Gruener|first=Anna|date=1 May 2015|title=The effect of cataracts and cataract surgery on Claude Monet|journal=British Journal of General Practice|language=en|volume=65|issue=634|pages=254–255|doi=10.3399/bjgp15X684949|issn=0960-1643|pmc=4408507|pmid=25918321|doi-access=free}}</ref> The next year, Monet, encouraged by Clemenceau, made plans to construct a new, large studio that he could use to create a "decorative cycle of paintings devoted to the water garden".<ref name=":11" />

In the following years, his perception of colour suffered; his broad strokes were broader and his paintings were increasingly darker. To achieve his desired outcome, he began to label his tubes of paint, kept a strict order on his palette and wore a straw hat to negate [[Glare (vision)|glare]].<ref name=":0" /> He approached painting by formulating the ideas and features in his mind, taking the "motif in large masses" and transcribing them through memory and imagination. This was due to him being "insensitive" to the "finer shades of tonalities and colors seen close up".{{Sfn|Bailey|Rishel|Rosenthal|1989|p=84}}

Monet's output decreased as he became withdrawn, although he did produce several [[panel painting]]s for the [[Government of France|French Government]], from 1914 to 1918 to great financial success and he would later create works for the state.<ref name=":0" />{{Sfn|Bailey|Rishel|Rosenthal|1989|pp=57}}{{Sfn|Bailey|Rishel|Rosenthal|1989|pp=58}} His work on the "cycle of paintings" mostly occurred around 1916 to 1921.<ref name=":11" /> Cataract surgery was once again recommended, this time by Clemenceau.<ref name=":0" /> Monet—who was apprehensive, following [[Honoré Daumier]] and [[Mary Cassatt]]'s botched surgeries—stated that he would rather have poor sight and perhaps abandon painting than forego "a little of these things that I love".<ref name=":0" /> In 1919, Monet began a series of landscape paintings, "in full force" although he was not pleased with the outcome.{{Sfn|Bailey|Rishel|Rosenthal|1989|pp=58}} By October, the weather caused Monet to cease plein air painting and the next month he sold four of the eleven ''Water Lilies'' paintings, despite his then-reluctance to relinquish his work.{{Sfn|Bailey|Rishel|Rosenthal|1989|pp=58}} The series inspired praise from his peers; his later works were well received by dealers and collectors, and he received 200,000 francs from one collector.{{Sfn|Bailey|Rishel|Rosenthal|1989|pp=58}}

In 1922 a prescription of [[Mydriasis|mydriatics]] provided short-lived relief. He eventually underwent [[cataract surgery]] in 1923. Persistent [[cyanopsia]] and [[Aphakia|aphakic]] [[Glasses|spectacles]] proved to be a struggle. Now "able to see the real colours", he began to destroy canvases from his pre-operative period.<ref name=":0" /> Upon receiving [[Sunglasses|tinted]] [[Carl Zeiss AG|Zeiss]] lenses, Monet was laudatory, although his left eye soon had to be entirely covered by a black lens. By 1925, his visual impairment was improved and he began to retouch some of his pre-operative works, with bluer water lilies than before.<ref>[http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/medicalscience/story/0,9837,724257,00.html Let the light shine in] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725162228/http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/medicalscience/story/0,9837,724257,00.html |date=25 July 2008 }} Guardian News, 30 May 2002. Retrieved 6 January 2007.</ref><ref name=":0" />

During [[World War I]], in which his younger son, Michel, served, Monet painted a ''[[Weeping Willow (painting)|Weeping Willow]]'' series as homage to the French fallen soldiers.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://kimbellart.org/collection/ap-199602| title = Kimbell Art Museum, Weeping Willows| access-date = 29 May 2021| archive-date = 3 June 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210603141038/https://kimbellart.org/collection/ap-199602| url-status = live}}</ref> He became deeply dedicated to the decorations of his garden during the war.{{Sfn|Bailey|Rishel|Rosenthal|1989|pp=57}}

<gallery widths="180px" heights="150px" perrow="4" caption="Late paintings">
File:Nymphéas reflets de saule 1916-19.jpg|''[[Water Lilies]] and Reflections of a Willow'' (1916–1919), [[Musée Marmottan Monet]]
File:Claude Monet, Water-Lily Pond and Weeping Willow.JPG|''Water-Lily Pond and Weeping Willow'', 1916–1919, Sale Christie's New York, 1998
File:Claude Monet, Weeping Willow.JPG|''[[Weeping Willow (painting)|Weeping Willow]]'', 1918, [[Columbus Museum of Art]]
File:Claude Monet Weeping Willow.jpg|''Weeping Willow'', 1918–19, [[Kimball Art Museum]], [[Fort Worth]], Monet's ''Weeping Willow'' paintings were an homage to the fallen French soldiers of World War I
File:Monet - Das Haus in den Rosen.jpeg|''House Among the Roses'', between 1917 and 1919, [[Albertina]], Vienna
File:Monet- Der Rosenweg in Giverny.jpeg|''The Rose Walk, Giverny'', 1920–1922, [[Musée Marmottan Monet]]
File:1920-22 Claude Monet The Japanese Footbridge MOMA NY anagoria.JPG|''The Japanese Footbridge'', 1920–1922, [[Museum of Modern Art]]
File:Claude Monet - Wisteria - Google Art Project.jpg|''Wisteria'', 1920–1925, [[Kunstmuseum Den Haag]]
</gallery>