Monet was born on 14 November 1840 in Paris and grew up in Le Havre. Encouraged by the pre-Impressionist painter Eugène Boudin (1824-1898) he went to Paris in 1859. In 1862 he entered the studio of the highly regarded Charles Gleyre. There he met other young painters such as Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley. From 1861-1862 he did his military service in Algeria. Once back in Paris he made vain efforts to achieve recognition. In 1870 he married Camille Doncieux, who had been his partner for many years. When the Franco-Prussian War broke out, he fled to London in 1871. There he met the Paris art dealer Durand-Ruel, who subsequently became one of his main supporters. In 1874 Monet took part in the first Impressionist exhibition in Paris. Up to 1886 he showed his work at the other exhibitions of the Impres­sionists, also taking part in the auctions that the group organized in Hotel Drouot. His wife Camille died in 1879. In 1881 the gallery owner Durand-Ruel began to buy his works regularly and to hold exhibitions for him. In 1883 Monet moved with his children and new partner Alice Hoschedé to Giverny, a village in the Seine valley, which henceforth pro­vided the subject of most of his paintings. The trips that he made after 1895 to Norway, London and Venice also bore rich artistic fruit. Although Monet suffered from glau­coma during the last years of his life he con­tinued to paint. His subject now was almost exclusively his wonderful garden in Giverny. He died at a great age on 6 December 1926 in Giverny.