Claude Monet

Monet's "Impression, Sunrise"

In 1872 French painter Claude Monet created an oil painting titled "Impression, Sunrise".  It was widely criticized as being unrealistic and appearing to be "unfinished".  In a search for the right word to describe what he considered a poor work of art a critic stated that the piece was more of an impression of its object than an accurate portrayal.  His intended insult of Monet's work spread throughout the art community and came to be associated with the growing trend of paintings that were more concerned with light and impressions of nature than with detailed, realistic portrayals.   

The video below showcases several of Monet's works.  The accompanying soundtrack is the first 3 minutes and 45 seconds of Chopin's "Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 11: Romance - Larghetto".   

Monet created series of paintings that portrayed the same subject but in different lighting or from a different angle.  Here is one example - a few pieces from his lily pond series.

Monet loved his wife, Camille, dearly and was devastated by her death from tuberculosis soon after the birth of their second child.  She was the subject of several of his paintings, including the one below.

After Camille's death, Claude Monet's art became even more central to his life as he struggled with depression for the rest of his days.  He died of lung cancer in 1926.