As it is back to school season, I thought I would try making a series of episodes that are short and to the point to give students and anyone else interested a quick overview of the artist. Each of my TLDR episodes will give a very brief overview of the artist, 5 interesting things to know about them and a little insight into one of their major works.

Claude Monet was a central figure in the Impressionist movement. His childhood in the coastal town of Le Havre shaped his lifelong fascination with light and water, leading him and his contemporaries to leave the studio and paint en plein air. This new approach, focused on capturing the fleeting sensory experience of a moment rather than a detailed representation, was initially mocked. The movement itself earned its name from a critic's dismissive review of Monet's painting, Impression, Sunrise.

Delve deeper into the obsessive genius of the artist, from his custom-built floating studio on the Seine River to the world-famous garden he cultivated at his home in Giverny. This garden, and particularly its water lily pond, became the sole subject of his work for the last three decades of his life, resulting in approximately 250 oil paintings. Discover fascinating details about Monet's life, including his passion for gourmet food, his perfectionism that led him to destroy hundreds of his own canvases, and the remarkable story of how cataract surgery in his later years allowed him to perceive ultraviolet light, profoundly changing the colors in his final masterpieces.

Check out my other podcasts  Fun Facts Daily | Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab

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