Leader of Impressionism, painter of Water Lilies and Impression, Sunrise
The standard-bearer of Impressionism — the very name "Impressionism" comes from his painting Impression, Sunrise. He was obsessed all his life with catching light: not the object itself, but the way light falls on it at different hours and in different weather. For this he would paint the same cathedral, the same haystack, a dozen times in a day. In his later years, in his garden at Giverny, he painted that pond of water lilies over and over, until the picture all but dissolved into pure light and color.
When Monet exhibited Impression, Sunrise in 1874, a critic sneered that it was "only an impression," not even finished. "Impressionism," a word first meant as mockery, was calmly taken up by this band of unruly painters as the name of the whole movement. One of the most important revolutions in the history of art began, of all things, in a jibe.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.