Poppy Field at Argenteuil, c.1873By Claude Monet

Claude Monet (1840 – 1926), the founder of Impressionism, was one of the most influential landscape painters in the history of art. Born in Paris, Monet was enrolled in the studio of Glenyre, where he met Renoir, Sisley, and Bazille, who became the core of the Impressionist group. Painting outdoors, he broke the tradition of portraying a subject literally by conveying the fleeting effects of atmosphere, time of day, and season upon color and light. Eliminating black and gray from his palette, he represented natural color like a prism, breaking it down into its individual components, often painting a series of the exact same view under different light and weather conditions. Monet brought the study of the transient effects of natural light to its most refined expression, ultimately becoming a forerunner of 20th century modernism.