Claude Monet
Founder of Impressionism, Water Lilies
Most quoted
"Try to forget what objects you have before you – a tree, a house, a field, or whatever. Merely think, here is a little square of blue, here an oblong of pink, here a streak of yellow, and paint it just as it looks to you."
— from Advice to Lilla Cabot Perry
"For me, a landscape does not exist in its own right, since its appearance changes at every moment; but the surrounding atmosphere brings it to life – the light and the air which vary continually."
— from Interview, 1890
"I am working at a furious pace. I am afraid of the sun, afraid of the wind, afraid of the clouds, afraid of the rain, afraid of the fog, afraid of the frost, afraid of the snow."
— from Monet's letters
All quotes by Claude Monet (341)
I am trying to express the light, not the object.
I have no other wish than to merge with nature.
I am trying to give an impression of what I see.
The light is everything.
I am a man of nature.
I have only one master: nature.
My only merit is to have painted directly in front of nature, seeking to render my impressions of the most fleeting effects, and I still regret not having been able to do more.
I'm working like a madman, but I'm not getting anywhere.
I am following my path, trying to do my best, without worrying about what others think.
I'm not a painter of figures, I'm a painter of landscapes.
I want to paint the air in which the bridge, the house, the boat are located.
It's a wonder, but it's also a torture.
I'm not a revolutionary, I'm just an impressionist.
The fog is a wonderful thing, it hides all the ugly things.
I'm always working, even when I'm not painting.
I'm not interested in painting things as they are, but as I see them.
I'm a man of the open air, a man of the fields.
I'm not a master, I'm a student.
I'm not a genius, I'm a worker.
I'm not a theorist, I'm a painter.
Contemporaries of Claude Monet
Other Visual Artss born within 50 years of Claude Monet (1840–1926).