Monet, The Most Dedicated Impressionist
His father hoped to see him continuing the family business, a grocery store of dry goods and edibles. Instead, Claude Monet became the precursor of an innovative artistic movement whose name, "Impressionism", began to be used after a pejorative critique of his "Impression, Sunrise", a painting exhibited in 1872 along with works by Renoir, Degas, and Cézanne, all his friends.
Although born in Paris in 1840, Oscar-Claude Monet grew up in the port city of Le Havre, where he had his first contact with painting through Eugène Boudin, who encouraged him to work in the open air and under sunlight, a procedure that would be fundamental in developing his technique and style.
At 19, Monet returned to live in Paris with the aim of studying painting. Despite his father's desire to see him at the traditional École des Beaux-Arts, he chose to enter the Atelier Suisse, whose freer approach matched his personality. Although he appreciated drawing, Monet did not agree with the academic tradition of teaching art in more traditional schools. It was in this environment that he would meet Camille Pissarro, through whom he would be introduced to the circle of Manet, Courbet, and other artists with avant-garde ideas.
Painting: Impression, Sunrise