Oscar Claude Monet (1840- 1926) was born on the 14th November 1840 and died on the 5th December 1926, in Paris. When he was 5, his family moved to the port of Le Havre, where he began painting.
Monet painted from a young age and when he moved to Paris in the 1860s he met fellow painters Renoir and Alfred Sisley. They created an art exhibition together and this was the start of ‘Impressionism’.
The term Impressionism is derived from his painting “Impression Soleil Levant” (which was exhibited in the 1874 Salon de Paris exhibition. Monet documented French countryside en plein air (painting outside). This was made possible due to advances in artist materials, notably oil paint being available in tubes for the first time, which allowed for portability.