Includes index.

This volume presents one of the founders of French impressionist painting, Claude Monet (1840-1926), and his greatest works in one collection. The book follows his early experiences and artistic education, as well as his personal life, shedding light on why Monet became the painter he did. The second half is a gallery of more than 300 of his works with analysis of each painting. Monet is considered to be most consistent and prolific practitioner of the impressionist movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to "plein-air" landscape painting. The term Impressionism is derived from the title of his painting "Impression, Sunrise."