Founder and leader of the Impressionist Movement, Claude Monet (1840 – 1925) was an artistic genius whose works challenged tradition by incorporating broken colors and interplays of light based on his own observations and knowledge of optics. Representing natural color by breaking it down into its individual components, like a prism, he completely eliminated black and gray from his palette. Charmed by the drama of the French coastline, Monet’s exquisitely lit “Chemin dans les Bles a Pourville,” lacks human figures, representing the seamless relationship between the painter and nature.