ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

Claude Monet
DAN SCOTT
 Claude Monet
Master of Color and Light

“Monet is just an eye, but God, what an eye.”

Paul Cézzane on Claude Monet

If you forced me to choose an all-time favorite artist, I would have to go with Claude
Monet. Discovering his work led me down an endless rabbit hole of color, light, and
the challenge of capturing life’s fleeting effects on canvas. This ebook is a distillation
of his life and work. I’ll cover:

• Key Facts, Events, and Ideas • Portraits and Photos

• Color and Light • Personal Favorites
• Brushwork, Technique, and Process • Key Takeaways
• Style Progression • Additional Resources
• Friends With Masters

Claude Monet, The Artist’s Garden in Giverny, 1900

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 Key Facts and Ideas

(Before I get started, let me first recommend you watch I, Claude Monet. It’s a sim-
ple documentary narrated through Monet’s letters and illustrated with his work. I
found it to be a clear and unbiased overview of his life. It made me realize how tragic
much of Monet’s life was. I had previously assumed his life was full of joy and color,
like his paintings. But his letters tell a different story. Many of them are veiled in
sadness as battled the many struggles of the art life. I watched it on Vimeo but you
might be able to find it elsewhere for free.)

I’ll briefly run through some of the key facts, events, and ideas from Monet’s life:

• Monet started drawing at an early age and gained recognition for his caricatures
of teachers and community members. These cheeky caricatures started it all. They
gave Monet the positive reinforcement needed to fan the flames of a child’s inter-
est; they were an avenue for practice; and they led to him meeting Eùgene Boudin,
who would go on to play a pivotal role in Monet’s life (discussed more in the next
point). In his own words:
Claude Monet,
Léon Manchon, 1855
“At fifteen I was known all over Le
Havre as a caricaturist. My repu-
tation was so well established that
from all sides people came to me and
pestered me for caricatures. I had so
many requests, and the pocket mon-
ey my mother could spare me was
so meager, that I was led to take a
bold step, one which needless to say
shocked my parents: I started selling
my portraits. Sizing up my customer,
I charged ten or twenty francs a car-
icature, and it worked like a charm.
Within a month my clientele had dou-
bled. Had I gone on like that I’d be a
millionaire today.”

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(You can see all of Monet’s caricatures here.)

• At 17, Monet met Boudin. Boudin saw promise in Monet’s caricatures and intro-
duced him to the world of plein air painting (painting outdoors).

“Boudin came over at once and started talking to me in his soft

voice, saying nice things about my work: ‘I like your sketches,
they’re very amusing, very neatly done. You’re gifted, anybody
can see that. But you’re not going to stop there, I hope. This is all
right for a start, but you’ll soon have had your fill of caricature.
You want to buckle down and study hard, learn to see and paint, go
out and sketch, do some landscapes. What beauty there is in the sea
and sky, in animals, people and trees, just as nature made them,
just as they are, with a character of their own, with a life of their
own in the light and air of nature.’”

• In 1859, Monet moved to Paris and attended the Académie Suisse. There he met
Camille Pissarro, who would end up being a lifelong friend and fellow pioneer of
Impressionism.

• Monet’s early career was challenging, as is the case for most artists. He had a few
successes but struggled financially. He was supported mostly by his wealthy aunt,
Marie-Jeanne Lecadre, but it was never enough to make him feel comfortable as
an artist.

• In 1865, Monet met an art model by the name of Camille Concieux. She would go
on to become Monet’s first wife and mother of their two children. Sadly, her life
was short and tragic. Monet struggled to support her and their children and she
passed away from illness at just 32, before benefiting from Monet’s eventual suc-
cess. This article on The Guardian provides some interesting details on her life and
relationship with Monet. She is featured in many of Monet’s paintings, including
The Woman in the Green Dress (in the next page). This painting was one of Mon-
et’s first commercial successes, exhibiting at the 1866 Paris Salon and selling for
800 Francs.

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 Claude Monet,
Woman in the Green Dress, 1866

• In 1869, Monet traveled with Pierre-Auguste Renoir to the outskirts of Paris and
the spa resort of Grenouillèr. They sat side-by-side and painted major works of
the same name—La Grenouillèr. I always find it interesting when two artists paint
the same subject. It demonstrates the power of perspective and how we all see the
world differently. I actually prefer Renoir’s painting in this case, but Monet was
only starting to find his feet. You can see Monet’s style evolving from his earlier
and darker paintings into fresher and more lively works. But this was viewed unfa-
vorably by the Salon judges.

Note: Throughout Monet’s career, there were several pivotal moments where
he decided to take the less desirable road so that he could continue pursuing his
dreams and ideas about painting. He probably would have been better off had
he continued as a caricaturist or a ‘Salon’ painter. But had he done that, we
might not be discussing his work today.

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Claude Monet, La Grenouille, 1869

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, La
Grenouille, 1869

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• In 1874, Monet and several like-minded artists exhibited at the Salon des Refusés
(Exhibition of Rejects). This comprised of artworks rejected by the official Salon.
Art critic, Louis Leroy, called it “impressionist” after Monet’s Impression, Sunrise.
Little did he know, what was meant as an insult would become the name of the
movement.

Claude Monet, Impression

Sunrise, 1872

• A key practice in Mon-

et’s study of color and
light was painting the
same subject over and
over again in varying
conditions. He did
this with haystacks,
water lilies, the
Rouen Cathedral, and
the Waterloo Bridge,
just to name a few.
Whilst I’m unsure if
Monet was the first
to do such a thing, he
was certainly the first
to practice it to such Claude Monet, Waterloo Bridge Series
an extreme.

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• Monet obsessed over his Giverny gardens in the second half of his career. They
would become one of his greatest artworks, with exotic plants, poppies, roses, fruit
trees, bridges, ponds, weeping willows, wisterias, and water lilies. All of which are
featured throughout his later work. Monet’s success in his late-career allowed him
to invest significantly in his gardens. He hired numerous gardeners, acquired rare
and exotic plants from Egypt and America, and had a Japanese bridge built across
the pond, inspired by the Japanese prints he collected (more details on his print
collection here). This page has some excellent information on the gardens. You can
also see Monet scrolling through his gardens in this video.

“I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.”

Claude Monet

Claude Monet,
In the Garden, 1895

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• In his final years, Monet battled failing eyesight due to cataracts. What a tragic
thought—an artist like Monet gradually losing his eyesight. But he kept on paint-
ing. You can see the dramatic effects of his condition in paintings like The Japa-
nese Footbridge. It always amazes me how powerful the simple act of painting can
be. There is something about it that compels artists to endure incredible hardships
in search of those rare glimmers of pure joy and excitement. Not even failing eye-
sight could stop Monet from painting.

Claude Monet, The Japanese

Footbridge, 1920-1922

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 Color and Light

“Color is my daylong obsession, joy, and torment.”

Claude Monet

Color and light are the first things that come to mind when I think of Monet. He spent
his life exploring their often subtle relationships. It was as if painting was merely a
vehicle for him to do this.

Many of his works are nothing more than ambient displays of color, with little focus
on drawing and rendering. He had no interest in being the next Rembrandt, rather,
his primary aim was to capture nature’s light and color on the canvas. And he came
pretty close too!

Monet’s understanding of color and light is even more impressive when you consider
the environment in which he worked. Scientific understanding of color and light at the
time was primitive compared to today. And Monet didn’t have a “Monet” or other Im-
pressionists to study from. Sure, there were many great artists that came before him,
but there were few true colorists.

As mentioned earlier, one of his key practices was painting the same subject over and
over again. The constant subject allowed him to better observe the color relationships
under varying conditions. Haystacks was his first major series, which he discussed in
a letter to Gustave Geffroy in 1890:

“I’m hard at it, working stubbornly on a series of different effects,

but at this time of year the sun sets so fast that it’s impossible to keep
up with it ... the further I get, the more I see that a lot of work has
to be done in order to render what I’m looking for: ‘instantaneity’,
the ‘envelope’ above all, the same light spread over everything... I’m
increasingly obsessed by the need to render what I experience, and
I’m praying that I’ll have a few more good years left to me because I
think I may make some progress in that direction...”

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Claude Monet, Haystacks

A few years later in 1892, he rented an apartment in France and commenced work on
his Rouen Cathedral series. A much more challenging subject, with many nooks and
crannys, crevices, edges, shadows, patterns, and highlights. This allowed Monet to
explore a wider and more complex range of color relationships.

Claude Monet, Rouen Cathedral

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His last and most recognized series is Water Lilies. An ambient display containing
around 250 works. Artist, André Masson, sums it up well as the “Sistine Chapel of
Impressionism”.

This series is a perfect example of an analogous color scheme (colors that are close
on the color wheel). Monet wove together all kinds of greens, blues, and purples. The
result is a harmonious display. Every now and then he might use a warm yellow, red,
or orange accent for a flower to command your attention.

You can see them all on this Wikipedia list.

Claude Monet, Nympheas, 1915

“I hate darkness. Claude Monet once said that painting in general did
not have light enough in it. I agree with him. We painters, however,
can never reproduce sunlight as it really is. I can only approach the
truth of it.” Joaquín Sorolla

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Monet often painted within a high key (light colors). Instead of dark black and brown
shadows, he opted for more colorful options—blues, greens, purples, reds, greens.
Notice the deep blue shadows in the Grand Canal for example.

Claude Monet, Grand Ca-

nal, 1908

Painting within a high key does come at the sacrifice of the full value range. Without
black, you cannot get that sharp value contrast that you might see in a Rembrandt.

Broken color was one of Monet’s primary tools for capturing the effects of light. If you
look closely at his work, you’ll see a patchwork of distinct colors. Take the painting
below, Belle-Ile, Rocks at Port-Goulphar.

Claude Monet, Belle-Ile,

Rocks at Port-Goulphar,
1886

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If we zoom in on the painting, we can see the water is made up of many tiny and dis-
tinct strokes of color. Blues, greens, purples, and grays. It looks abstract up close, but
it all comes together as you step back.

As for Monet’s color palette, he said this in 1905:

“As for the colors I use, what’s so interesting about that? I don’t think
one could paint better or more brightly with another palette. The
point is to know how to use the colors, the choice of which is, when
all’s said and done, a matter of habit. Anyway, I use flake white, cad-
mium yellow, vermilion, deep madder, cobalt blue, emerald green,
and that’s all.” (Source)

He made a great point: An artist’s color palette is often nothing more than habit. Un-
derstanding how to use your colors is more important than the colors you have.

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 Brushwork, Technique, and Process

Monet typically used short, broken strokes. Similar to Vincent van Gogh, but less
stylized.

The reasoning behind Monet’s brushwork might be that it was simply a fast way to
paint, as was required when painting outdoors with the changing conditions. It also
allowed him to take advantage of broken color. Instead of finely blending two colors
together, Monet would weave together strokes of distinct and often rich color.

He used vague detail, doing just enough to suggest form, but leaving the rest up to
our imaginations. Let’s go back to his Impression, Sunrise as an example. Monet and
the other Impressionists were initially mocked for this brash, seemingly unfinished
brushwork. Yet today Monet and the Impressionists are widely admired. That’s one of
the harsh realities of painting (and most aspects of life)—those who pave the way are
often met with the harshest resistance.

Claude Monet, Impression Sunrise, 1872

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As for how Monet went about a painting, there is limited information on this. But
my best guess is that he worked in a direct manner, building up a patchwork of tiny
strokes until the subject emerges. He matched his brushwork to the nature of the
subject and painted with emotion. For broad objects, he used broad brushwork. For
intricate, active subjects, he used smaller brushes and energetic brushwork.

Many of his paintings appear to be a mix of wet on wet and wet on dry. This suggests
he rapidly filled the canvas with color, then refined it later once the paint had dried.
Wet on dry is particularly effective for capturing the glimmering effects of light by
scumbling a light color over a dry, dark surface.

He often worked on several paintings at the same time, changing between them to
match the conditions. In 1892 he vented to his second wife, Alice Hoschedé about his
Rouen Cathedral series:

“Dear God, this cursed Cathedral is hard to do… Fourteen paint-

ings on the go today…I’m exhausted and it seems that every day the
light changes: it gets whiter and higher up.”

He did most of his work on location but continued to refine the paintings in his studio.
This way he got the best of both worlds.

Claude Monet,
Wheatfield, 1881

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 Style Progression

Monet had a long and prolific career, creating almost 2,000 paintings. This allows us
to step back and observe how his style and skills evolved over time.

His early work is unlike what you would expect from Monet. Restrained colors, deep
black and brown shadows, and intimate compositions. These were Monet’s academic
years, before he truly discovered color.

Below is Monet’s earliest documented painting. A pleasant landscape with realistic

colors and fine rendering. One of the key differences between this and his later work
is the use of dark, black/green shadows. This creates a sharper value contrast (light
against dark) at the expense of color.

Claude Monet,
View at Rouelles,
Le Havre, 1858

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He also painted several academic still lifes, like Still Life With Meat. It’s warm and
dramatic. You can tell it’s an early work as it bears an unusual Monet signature—”M.”
or “Mo”. Most of his other works are signed with his full name, plus on occasion the
year.

Claude Monet, Still Life With Meat, 1864

A Jar of Peaches is another classic

still life, but you can see hints of the
relaxed brushwork that would later
become a key feature of his work (see
the highlights at the bottom of the
painting).

Claude Monet, A Jar of Peaches, c.1866

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Monet isn’t remembered for these early academic paintings, but they are important in
that they set the foundation for the rest of his career. His fundamentals were strong
enough that he could relax his brushwork and push the colors without completely
compromising the sense of realism.

Over time, Monet’s paintings become more lively and colorful. The following two
paintings of Étretat are a great demonstration of this evolution. This is Monet before
and after color.

Claude Monet, Étretat, 1864

Claude Monet,
Étretat, Sunset, 1883

When you can get a chance, take a look through this full list of Monet’s documented
paintings so you can see his style evolution for yourself. You will also notice that some
paintings are much better in a technical sense than others. Not everything he touched
was a masterpiece. This is not to diminish his talents, but rather to appreciate that he
too had to struggle, experiment, practice work to create his masterpieces.

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 Friends With Masters

Monet brushed shoulders with many other master artists. Camille Pissarro, Mary Cas-
satt, Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Vincent van Gogh, Frederic Bazille, and so on.
This perhaps is one of the reasons for his success. He was exposed to such a breadth
of talent and experience. And not just from other Impressionists. He was friends with
master realist John Singer Sargent. Their relationship was mutually beneficial: Monet
with his knowledge of color and light, Sargent with his meticulous fundamentals. You
can see Monet’s influence in Sargent’s painting below. It is unlike Sargent’s typical
work, with relaxed brushwork and vague detail. An appropriate way to paint the Im-
pressionist master.

John Singer Sargent, Painting of Monet, 1885

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Monet was painted a number of times by fellow artists (see below). This is a testament
to his influence and standing in the art community at the time. Édouard Manet’s The
Monet Family in Their Garden at Argenteuil is my favorite, with Monet taking a back
seat role to his wife and child.

Édouard Manet, The Monet Family in Their Garden at Argenteuil, 1874

Édouard Manet, Painting of Claude Monet, Seine in Argenteuil, 1874

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Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Monet Painting in His Garden at Argenteuil, 1873

Carolus-Duran, Portrait of Pierre August Renoir, Claude John Singer Sargent, Portrait
Claude Monet, c.1867 Monet Reading, 1872 of Claude Monet, 1887

Note: The art life can be an isolated and troublesome road to take. Make sure
you connect with others, like Monet did with the likes of Renoir, van Gogh, etc.
Artists need to support each other.

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 Portraits and Photoss
I could only find two self-portraits by Monet. The first is Monet in his 40s, the second
in his 70s.

Claude Monet, Self-Portrait in Beret, 1886 Claude Monet, Portrait of the Artist, 1917

This painting was also attributed to

Monet’s brush until recently. I stumbled
across this article that suggests it is by
Swiss artist, Charles Giron. This makes
sense based on Giron’s other work—the
style is very similar.

Charles Giron, Portrait of Monet

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There are also several photos of Monet in his gardens. I always find it helpful to put a
face to the artist. It helps us take them down from the pedestal and see them as they
were—artists like us trying to make it on their own journey.

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 Personal Favorites
I’ll run through some other personal favorites, starting with Woman Seated Under
the Willows. The woman melts into the surrounding landscape. Notice the use of sim-
plification. Monet was able to get away with only the slightest hint of form. I also love
the use of rich, green accents to add depth to the foreground.

Claude Monet,
Woman Seated Under the Willows,
1880

Vétheuil: What stunning

use of broken color to cap-
ture the shimmering water.
It must be quite a sight in
person.

Claude Monet, Vétheuil, 1879

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Pear Tree in Flower: A simple and colorful display. Notice the rich blue and red ac-
cents for the shadows.
Claude Monet,
Pear Tree in Flower

Jetty at Fecamp in Rough Weather: A great display of emotion and drama. Monet’s
brushwork mimics the water’s movement and nature.

Claude Monet, Jetty

at Fecamp in Rough
Weather, 1880

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Jean-Pierre Hoschedé and Michel Monet on the Bank of the Epte: An interesting
play between the trees and the water’s reflections. Also, notice how the reflections are
slightly darker and richer.

Claude Monet, Jean-

Pierre Hoschedé and
Michel Monet on the
Bank of the Epte,
c.1887-1890

Haystack: Perhaps my favorite from his haystack series. This is one of those paintings
that gets more interesting and complex the closer you look. Monet was able to use
such rich color without it appearing gnarish.

Claude Monet,
Haystack, 1891

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Foggy Morning at Pourville: A high-key (light) painting with small dark accents. This
is an effective color combination that Monet often utilized. It works particularly well
for sunny, glaring days.

Claude Monet,
Foggy Morning at
Pourville, 1882

Springtime: A beautiful demonstration of dappled light and how to paint white in

shadow.

Claude Monet,
Springtime, 1872

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 Key Takeaways
Here are some of the key takeaways from this ebook:

• There can be nothing more valuable than nurturing a child’s interest or tal-
ent, like Boudin did for Monet.

• The art life is rewarding yet challenging. Monet endured incredible hardships
in the creation of his work.

• To truly experience color and light, paint outdoors amongst nature. A camera
is helpful, but cannot replace our own sight and experience.

• Public opinion is fickle. Monet’s work was initially shunned, but today is re-
vered. Paint for yourself first and foremost.

• Painting the same subject over and over again allows you to better explore the
often subtle relationships between color and light.

• Painting with more color typically means sacrificing the full value range. Un-
fortunately, you cannot paint with both the drama of Rembrandt and the col-
or of Monet.

• Broken color was Monet’s primary tool for capturing the effects of light.

• Monet’s style evolved over time as he explored different ways of capturing his
ideas. Don’t be confined to the same way of painting.

• Monet brushed shoulders with many other master artists. His exposure to
such a wealth of talent and experience would have played a key role in his
own success.

• Looking at photos of master artists can help you take them down from the
pedestal. They were artists too, with all the struggles that come with it.

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