Photoshop - Historical Collage

Claude Monet, Impressionist Painter

• Oscar Claude Monet
• Born: 14 November 1840(1840-11-14), Paris, France 
• Died: 5 December 1926(1926-12-05) (aged 86), Giverny, France
• Nationality: French
• Field: Painter
• Movement: Impressionism  
• Best known paintings: Impression, Sunrise, Rouen Cathedral series, London Parliament series, Water Lilies, Haystacks, Poplars

Claude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting.The term Impressionism is derived from the title of his painting Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant).

The message of the montage is:
“Art does not have to be understood, but just loved.”-- Claude Monet

Art is a very personal experience and touches each person in a different way. Too often, there is a need to qualify and quantify the reasons why you are drawn to a piece of art. Art should enjoyed for the experience and feeling it evokes and enjoyed and not over-analyzed.

The photo on the bottom left is a portrait of a young Monet and on the right is a painting of him painting the "walled gardens" in front of his Giverny home. The background is a photo of "Monet's Water Gardens", (which I took), where Monet lived the last years of his life, focused on painting his famous "water lillies" series.

I have also loved impressionist style painting because of the soft and romantic feeling the colors and images evoke. On my recent travel to Paris in April 2011, I was was able to visit this garden and the museums that showcase his art.