PCB Monet, Claude

Postcard-book with 30 Cards to pick out.

Claude Monet
He is the master of French impressionism. His works possess an evocative power and captivate millions of people. Born the son of a businessman in Le Havre, France in 1840, his talent was noticed early on. Even as a child, Monet drew striking pictures, especially portraits. One of these drawings was displayed by a shop owner in his window, where it attracted the attention of Eugène Boudin one day as he strolled past. The famous painter of seascapes befriended Monet and became his mentor, taking him on trips into the country and teaching him how to see and paint the outdoors. Being a practical man, Monet’s father had other plans for him, since he did not want to see his son become a painter. Only after his aunt Marie-Jeanne Lecadre intervened on her nephew’s behalf, was Monet permitted to travel to Paris to study painting. There he met Pierre-Auguste Renoir and other students who later on became famous as well.
The traditional methods taught at universities, however, were not enough for these young men. Inspired by avant-garde, they strove to forge their own path by having a closer look at new, thrilling developments in the realm of naturalistic and realistic painting. Impressionism evolved in this constructive atmosphere in the 1860s as an approach to painting that contradicted the formal methods of traditional compositions by realistically recording the varying qualities of nature with quick, visible brushstrokes. At first the young artists were ignored by official art circles. They established an independent group and shocked both critics and the general public with their first exhibit in 1874, when they were laughingly dismissed as ”impressionniste”. Even Monet, one of the leaders of the movement, was met with rejection; his entire family turned their backs on him. After 1882, Monet refrained from exhibiting his works exclusively in the group and only showed them henceforth monographically. This decision helped him to distinguish himself and establish the foundation for his fame.
Although Monet seemed to break with naïve impressionism, he continued to pursue it. He began to rework his landscape paintings that were created in a series, the final result became a masterpiece. Impressionism lost its spontaneity, becoming a highly artificial style in which the effects of nature, such as weather and light, gained special significance.