Welcome to the virtual portion of our KCU/Carter County Public Library Summer Reading Program 2025! This week we will begin to explore the art of French Impressionist artist Claude Monet.
Claude Monet was born in Paris in 1840, but he was raised in Le Havre, Normandy in France. He showed artistic talent early and was drawing portraits for money by the time he was 15. However, his father did not want him to become an artist. His father wanted him to go into business. Monet's mother supported his interest in art but she died when he was 16 years old. In 1861 he was drafted and enlisted for 7 years with the 1st Regiment of Chasseurs d'Afrique and was sent to Algeria. Almost a year later he had contracted typhoid fever and went home to recuperate and was allowed to buy out the rest of his enlistment.
He began developing his style of painting that expressed how someone perceived nature and it particularly focused on painting outside. One of his ambitions with his painting was to document the French countryside. This led him to paint many of the same scenes over and over again so he could capture the countryside in different light, different seasons, and different weather conditions. This is reflected in his Haystack paintings, Rouen Cathedral, and his Water Lilies paintings. He painted water lilies for 20 years of his life!
Claude Monet died in December of 1926. He was 86 years old.
