Impressionist

Claude Monet lived his childhood in Le Havre, city on the west coast of France, where the Seine river meets the Atlantic Ocean. The place and its nature made him a strong impression, particularly the river which he recalls:

The Seine. I have painted it all my life, at all the hours of the day, at all the times of the year, from Paris to the sea… 

His works tell about his inclination to study and paint reality through effects of water: cityscapes are wrapped in the envelope of fog - sky, buildings, boats, lilies are reflections on the surface of water. About London and fog, he said:

I only love London in winter… Without its fog, London would not be a beautiful city.

At the turn of the 19th century, during the later part of his life, he started building a water garden to his studio in Giverny. The Japanese-styled water garden with its lilies and bridges was a motif for several of his paintings, his devotion until the end of his life. In 1908, he admitted:

These landscapes of water and reflections have become an obsession. They are beyond the strength of an old man like me, and yet I still want to succeed in rendering what I experience… I hope that something will come out of my efforts.

[source: Monet, Karin Sagner-Düchting, Taschen]