Claude Monet

Objectives:

• Students will learn who Claude Monet was.

• Students will know what Impressionism is.

• Students will understand what contributions Monet gave to the world.

Suggested Grades:

3rd Grade - 4th Grade - 5th Grade - 6th Grade

Lesson Procedure:

Print the reading comprehension passage and questions (see below).

Students should read the passage silently, then answer the questions. Teachers may also use the text as part of a classroom lesson plan.

Lesson Excerpt:

The French artist Claude Monet was one of the founders of the nineteenth century style of art known as impressionism. Impressionism broke many of the rules of art that were in place at the time. The impressionist painters used subjects from the world around them. They painted in lighter colors and often put one color on top of another before the first color was dry. This gave the paintings a more blurred and softer appearance.

Born in Paris in 1840, Monet learned about art from older artists as well as by observing the landscape around him. In his own words, he was born undisciplined and found it difficult to follow rules. He had a hard time in school and would often draw his teachers in his notebook during class. He quickly became known as an artist, and people paid him to draw their portraits. As a teenager, Monet met and became friends with several other artists. One of them, Eugene Boudin, encouraged him to paint outdoors.

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