12 Claude Monet Quotes

French painter Claude Monet (1840-1926) is among history’s best known and most prolific painters. He is considered the father of the Impressionist movement. He described the style like this.

Try to forget what objects you have before you - a tree, a house, a field, or whatever. Merely think, 'Here is a little square of blue, here an oblong of pink, here a streak of yellow,' and paint it just as it looks to you, the exact color and shape, until it gives you your own impression of the scene before you.

His painting “Meulles” (Grainstacks) sold for $110.7 million in 2019.

Here are some of his more insightful quotes. If you’re an artist of any kind, you’ll recognize the angst that comes with the gift. You will also pick up on his intense connection to the natural world and feeling that painting is his purpose.

May they inspire you.

1. Color is my daylong obsession, joy, and torment.

2.  My wish is to stay always like this, living quietly in a corner of nature.

3. Every day I discover more and more beautiful things. It’s enough to drive one mad. I have such a desire to do everything, my head is bursting with it.

4.  All I did was to look at what the universe showed me, to let my brush bear witness to it.

5. I would like to paint the way a bird sings.

6. It's on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way. So we must dig and delve unceasingly.

7. What is it that's taken hold of me, for me to carry on like this in relentless pursuit of something beyond my powers?

8.  I think only of my painting, and if I were to drop it, I think I'd go crazy.

9. I haven't many years left ahead of me and I must devote all my time to painting, in the hope of achieving something worthwhile in the end, something if possible that will satisfy me.

10. My only desire is an intimate infusion with nature, and the only fate I wish is to have worked and lived in harmony with her laws.

11. To see, we must forget the name of the thing we are looking at.

12. The effect of sincerity is to give one's work the character of a protest. The painter being concerned only with conveying his impression, simply seeks to be himself and no one else.