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)
One day, I will paint the air.
I am good for nothing except painting and gardening.
I am more and more convinced that one must be a beginner all one's life.
I'm not an artist, I'm a painter.
It is a beautiful thing to be able to paint, but it is a difficult thing.
I'm working at it, I'm trying to do something impossible: to paint light.
I'm not afraid of anything, except of not being able to paint anymore.
I have never been able to paint indoors.
The fog is a wonderful thing, it hides everything and reveals nothing.
I wish I had been born blind and then suddenly gained my sight so I could have seen the world for the first time without prejudice.
I have to have flowers, always, and always.
I am trying to capture the ephemeral.
I am still learning.
The more I live, the more I regret that I cannot paint more.
I am not a theorist, I am only a painter.
I paint what I see, and not what others want to see.
I have finally discovered the true magic of color.
It's a wonder to be able to paint.
I want to paint the moment.
I am always astonished by the beauty of nature.
Contemporaries of Claude Monet
Other Visual Artss born within 50 years of Claude Monet (1840–1926).