Mornings with Monet

Claude Monet is one of the world’s most beloved artists–and he became famous during his own lifetime. He rejected a traditional life laid out clean and smooth before him. Instead, he chose a life of art. But not just any art: a new way of seeing that came to be called impressionism.

Monet loved to paint what he saw around him, particularly the Seine River. He was initially rejected for using bright colors, tangled brushstrokes–condemned for his impressions. But soon art dealers and collectors were lining up each morning to see as Monet saw. Monet, however, waited only for the light. The changing light…each morning he had a dozen canvases on hand to paint a dozen different moments. His brush moved back and forth, chasing sunlight—putting in the arduous work to create an image that seemed to contain no effort at all.