Claude Monet and Édouard Manet

by: Ashley Perez

Oscar-Claude Monet and Édouard Manet were both master painters from France during the 1800’s. Both men are seen as some of the most important artists of their time, and even now their work continues to inspire many people. While most consider both of them impressionists, Claude Monet was more of the impressionist while Édouard Manet was seen as early modern bordering on impressionism.  

Oscar-Claude Monet was born November 14, 1840 in Paris, France. He was born to a business father and a singer mother and from the start he wanted to be an artist. At a young age he was known for his charcoal sketches and at the age of 16 he learned how to use oil paints. Monet did not like how he saw other young artists copying the works of older generations in the museums and preferred to be outdoors and paint whatever he saw. After a two year commitment in the army, he contracted typhoid and left. He tried to take formal art classes but hated them and hated the “salon system” of trying to exhibit his art in shows. He started to paint in the impressionist style which was defined as bursts of light with rapid brush strokes.

Monet loved to paint “controlled” nature, which were usually gardens and ponds. The term “Impressionism” came from a critic’s response to his painting, “Impression, Sunrise”. Later in his life cataracts formed on his eyes in 1923, which affected his works by giving most of his paintings more of a reddish tint, an interesting contrast to some of his earlier work. Monet died in 1926 at the age of 86. Some of his best paintings and some of the most important impressionist paintings are: “Impression, Sunrise”, “Water Lily Pond”, and “The Woman in the Green Dress”.

Édouard Manet seemed to be a very different person from Claude Monet. Édouard Manet was born January 23, 1832 in Paris, France and served as inspiration for future impressionist even though his art was more modern and realistic. Manet had no problem copying the old works in the museums and started to paint in the realism style. In his paintings there always seem so be one still figure and always a busy background. It was a realistic approach to life in Paris. Manet is sometimes pegged as an impressionist but the only impressionist style detected in his work was the sketch like appearance of the work.

Manet had no issue with going through the salon system and did not like how the impressionists avoided it. Manet is considered “early modern” due to some of his more controversial works such as, “Luncheon on the Grass” and “Olympia”. These paintings are perfect examples of early modern with their bold outlining and subject matter. Édouard Manet died April 30, 1883 of untreated syphilis at the age of 51.

Claude Monet and Édouard Manet were friends in life, but they were not both impressionists. While Monet didn’t want to copy older works, Manet did not have a problem with it. Manet embraced the salon system while Monet rejected it Monet liked more still-life and Manet loved the busy scene. In the end, for clarity, Claude Monet was an impressionist painter, whilst Édouard Manet was an early modern painter.