Claude Monet (1840-1927)The French painter Claude Monet received his first lessons in Le Havre. His teacher Eugéne Boudin introduced him to painting in the open air. He continued his education in Paris, where he met painters such as Pisarro, Renoir and Sisley, with whom he often painted outdoors. From 1865 onwards he adopted a new technique, using separate streaks of unmixed paint. This style, later called Impressionism was taken up by other painters in France and after a while in the Netherlands as well. Monet took his capturing of impressions to such lengths that he sometimes painted a single subject (such as the cathedral of Rouen) over and over again, at different times of the day and in different light. His late work is considered to be almost abstractAbstract artAny form of artistic expression which bears no apparent relationship to tangible reality is commonly referred to as 'abstract'. Other terms employed include 'non-figurative' or 'non-representational'. The word 'abstract' stems from the Latin verb 'abstrahere': to withdraw or withhold. In other words, abstract art is 'withdrawn' from nature. Its lines, shapes and colours serve an autonomous purpose and do not refer to any object not in the actual painting. A number of European artists, working independently, began creating abstract art around 1910. Among them were Kandinsky (Germany), Kupka and Delaunay (France), Malevich (Russia) and - soon thereafter - the Dutch artists Mondriaan, Van Doesburg and Van der Lek.. |
