Claude Monet (1840-1926) spent most of his career painting his own spontaneous impression of nature. He gave the title of Impressionism to the school of art he created together with Manet, Renoir, Pissaro, Caillebotte and Sisley. Paul Cezanne paid him the most telling compliment: 'Monet is an eye, the most wonderful eye since there have been artists'.

Translated by: Anne Wyburd