Claude Oscar Monet (1840-1926), a French impressionist painter, born in Paris, was the initiator, leader, and unswerving advocate of the Impressionist style. When he was five years old, he moved to the port town of Le Havre. It was there he developed his affinity for painting en plein-air (outdoors), a concept introduced to him by his friend, painter Eugène Boudin.

In 1859, Monet left for Paris, but soon found himself disillusioned by the confines of long-established principles. He rejected the formal art training that was available in Paris. Bored and frustrated, Monet joined the studio of the Swiss-born Charles Gleyre. Gleyre was a successful salon painter but had no affiliation with the École or the Académie. There he met Frédéric Bazille, Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley. During the 1860s he also associated with other aspiring French painters, Édouard Manet and Camille Pissarro. The cohesive force that held the group together was the commitment and intense dedication to their new approach to art.