Monet was born in Paris in 1840. When he was 16 years old, he started painting satirical caricatures and met the painter Eugène Boudin, who brought him with him to paint nature.
In Paris, he met Auguste Renoir, Frédéric Bazille, Alfred Sisley, the core of what would become Impressionism. He encouraged his friends to come and paint outdoors in the forest of Fontainebleau. At that time, he also met Georges Clémenceau, then a medical student who would later become Prime Minister of France during the Third Republic.
In 1870, Monet fled the Franco-Prussian war and found refuge in London. He married Camille Doncieux, with whom he had two sons, Jean, in 1867 and Michel, in 1878. The hazy atmosphere of London inspired him to paint very beautiful paintings. Then he settled in Argenteuil, France which would become the center of Impressionism. The changing light on the Seine river and the countryside, the endless variations of colors in the fields gave Monet an ideal motif. Finally, his move to Giverny in Normandy in 1883 marked a decisive turning point in his life and his work. His garden in Giverny was both its most precious motif but also a remarkable creation in which nature flourishes.