Artist Claude Monet is best known for his remarkable accomplishments as an Impressionist painter. In his works, Monet focused on capturing the fleeting and ephemeral effects of light on objects. And the result is spectacular - today, Monet is widely admired, his paintings appreciated for their subtle colors and innovative painterly technique.

Claude Monet was born in 1840 in Paris, France. He began his career as an artist just after the middle of the Nineteenth century, at a time when the French art world was dominated by conservative and traditional painters. Monet rejected the slick Academic style and subject matter so admired by the art connoisseurs of the day, and instead chose to depict scenes from nature and contemporary life. A field of poppies. Haystacks. A water lily pond. The façade of Rouen Cathedral. These were the images that inspired Monet, and he painted them almost obsessively. And whether he painted landscapes, boats on the water, or flowers, his paintings reveal that Monet was a master of portraying the elusive play of light and shadow in his magnificent works. Viewers can see this artistic mastery in some of Monet's most memorable and famous paintings, such as his images of Water Lilies and Haystacks in the Snow.