Artist Biographies

Claude Monet

Claude Monet Biography Born November 14,1840, in Paris , France Died December 5,1926, in Giverny, France
Claude Monet was born to Claude Adolphe Monet and Louise Justine Aubée Monet, both second-generation Parisians. He was originally baptized as Oscar Claude Monet, but later in life used only Claude Monet. His family moved to La Havre port in Normandy, where his father had hopes of Claude going into the family ship-handling and grocery business. The young Monet had other ideas, though and is mother supported his desire to be an artist. During his adolecent years he was very gifted at drawing charicatures and even sold some of them to the La Havre Port locals. When he was only sixteen his mother passed away and he quit his schooling to go live with a widowed childless aunt. She encouraged him to continue his schooling and bought him a painting kit. From this point on Claude fell inlove with painting. Around the same time he met Eugéne Boudin, who became his mentor and taught him how to use oil paints and the "en plein air" landscape painting style. Monet, exclaimed, "Suddenly the veil was lifted! My destiny as a paintert was opened to me." Monet traveled to Paris and witnessed other artists at the Louvre copying the Renaissance era master's paintings. He preferred sitting in the window of the Louvre and painting what he saw outside. He was in Paris for many years and met some of his closest friends at the Louvre, such as Manet, Renoir, Fredric Bazille, and Alfred Sisley. Monet entered the service for a brief time he and when he became ill he was discharged. His aunt encouraged him to go back to school in Paris Monet's legacy stems from a Salon art exhibition where he displayed a painting named, "Impression Soliel Levant," or "Impression Sunrise." It was a painting of the La Havre port landscape. From it's title an art critic wrote a review that was intended to disparage the work, by saying sarcastically, that it was a lovely "Impression." Monet's colleagues appropriated the name "Impressionism," as their own. Artists such as Renoir, Sisley, Pissaro, Manet, and many more created a movement that was intended to step out of the conformity of traditional rules applied to painting at the time. In later life Monet became 80% blind when he created his most famous series of paintings the water lily series. Painting his elaborate landscape at his home in Giverny, Monet spent hours in his waterlily pond. Many of his paintings were displayed at the Musée de l' orangerie, an art museum that Monet helped establish.

Vincent Van Gogh

Biography of Vincent van Gogh Born March 30, 1853, Groot-Zundert, Holland Died July 29, 1890, Auvers-sur-Oise, France
A post-impressionist artist for whom color was a vital form of expression, Vincent Van Vogh was born on March 30th, 1853 in Groot-Zundert, Holland exactly one year after his older brother Vincent Van Gogh was stillborn. meaning that Vincent didn't even have his own name, precipitating a life long identity crisis. He was the second oldest of 7 children, 3 sisters and 3 brothers. His father was a protestant preacher that inspired the young Van Gogh to become a preacher like his father. As a serious, and studious child, Van Gogh enjoyed drawing and described his childhood a happy time. He worked at a few different professions such as a clerk in a bookstore, an art dealer for an uncle's art gallery, and eventually tried his long time goal of being of a missionary for a ministry in Belgium. He identified so strongly with the impoverished community where he lived, that he gave away all of his possessions leaving himself penniless. He was admonished for being too literal with regard to the scriptures and was discharged for being overzealous. In 1880 he began to identify as an artist and vowed to bring consolation to humanity through his art. At first his works consisted of somber subjects and dim colors. He related to and admired Millet and Corot. Throughout his life he corresponded by letter with his brother Théo. They were very close and Théo would purchase some of Vincent's paintings to help support his painting supplies and lively hood. Van Gogh tried to marry a few times without success and even had an altercation with Paul Gaughin regarding one particular woman that they both liked. He later, out of remorse, severed part of his ear off with a razor.It was at this time he was starting to show mental illness that haunted him throughout his remaining years. At Saint Remy an assylum, he had a window in his room that overlooked a wheat field with cypress trees and a garden. He painted several campaigns of olive trees, sunflowers, wheat fields, and cypress trees. Over the last decade of his life Van Gogh painted over 2000 paintings but sold only a few to his brother Théo. He lived a difficult and impoverished life, eventually taking his own life with a gunshot wound to his stomach. In 1987 less than 100 years after it was painted the painting "Irises" sold for 53.9 million dollars. A few years later it was purchased again for an undisclosed amount.

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