Claude Monet was a French Impressionist painter. The term Impressionism is derived from the title of his painting Impression, Sunrise. Monet was born to Adolphe and Louise-Justine Monet, both of them second-generation Parisians, but his family moved in 1845 to Le Havre in Normandy when he was five. He was christened as Oscar-Claude at the church of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette. His father wanted him to go into the family (grocery store) business, but Claude Monet wanted to become an artist. His mother was a singer. From 1871 to 1878 Monet lived at Argenteuil, a village on the Seine near Paris, and here were painted some of his best known works. Monet was exceptionally fond of painting controlled nature: his own garden in Giverny, with its water lilies, pond, and bridge. He also painted up and down the banks of the Seine. Monet died December 5, 1926 at the age of 86 and is buried in the Giverny church cemetery. His famous home and garden with its waterlily pond and bridge at Giverny are a popular drawcard for tourists. In the house there are many examples of Japanese woodcut prints on the walls.

In 2004, London, the Parliament, Effects of Sun in the Fog (Le Parlement, Effet de Brouillard) (1904), sold for over U.S. $20 million. Interestingly, in 2006, the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A published a paper providing evidence that these were painted in situ at St. Thomas' Hospital over the river Thames.

Some of Claude Monet's famous paintings:
Bordighera
Field of Poppies, Argenteuil
House of Parliament, London
Impression: Sunrise
Irises in Monet's Garden
The Garden at Argenteuil (The Dahlias)
The Japanese Bridge
The Luncheon
The Water-Lily Pond
Twilight, Venice
Woman with a Parasol