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There are the most amusing things everywhere in The Netherlands. Houses of every colour, hundreds of windmills and enchanting boats, extremely friendly Dutchmen who almost all speak French... .I have not had time to visit the museums, I wish to work first of all and I'll treat myself to that later.
Claude Monet -
I've got it.. .the Saint Lazare1 train-station in Paris, then. I'll show it just as the trains are starting, with smoke from the engines so thick you can hardly see a thing. It's a fascinating sight, a real dream. I'll get them the station office to delay the train for Rouen for half an hour. The light will be better then.
Claude Monet
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..but what a pity that I did not come here in Venice when I was younger and more adventurous.
Claude Monet -
It is only too easy to catch people's attention by doing something worse than anyone else has dared to do it before.
Claude Monet -
The sea is superb, but the cliffs don't match up to those at Fecamp. Here I'll be certain to do more boats.
Claude Monet -
In Paris one is too preoccupied by what one sees and what one hears, however strong one is; what I am doing here has, I think, the merit of not resembling anyone, because it is simply the expression of what I myself have experienced.
Claude Monet -
I can no longer work outside because of the intensity of the light.
Claude Monet -
You'll understand, I'm sure that I'm chasing the merest sliver of color. It's my own fault. I want to grasp the intangible. It's terrible how the light runs out. Color, any color, lasts a second, sometimes 3 or 4 minutes at most.
Claude Monet
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The only merit I have is to have painted directly from nature with the aim of conveying my impressions in front of the most fugitive effects.
Claude Monet -
Getting up at 4 in the morning, I slave away all day until by the evening I'm exhausted, and I end by forgetting all my responsibilities, thinking only of the work I've set out to do.
Claude Monet -
There at the moment in Honfleur.. .Boudin and Jongkind are here; we get on marvelously. There's lots to be learned and nature begins to grow beautiful.. .I shall tell you I'm sending a flower picture to the exhibition at Rouen; there are very beautiful flowers at present.
Claude Monet -
Canvases between 8 centimetres and 1 metre are priced around 25,000 francs. In the past I used to sell them from between 50 to 100 francs at the most. I have to say... that I feel somewhat embarrassed at this admission.
Claude Monet -
As for myself, I met with as much success as I ever could have wanted. In other words, I was enthusiastically run-down by every critic of the period.
Claude Monet -
Impressionism is only direct sensation. All great painters were less or more impressionists. It is mainly a question of instinct, and much simpler than Sargent thinks. But he went on to agree that impressionists had noted how strong
Claude Monet
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For me, the subject is of secondary importance: I want to convey what is alive between me and the subject.
Claude Monet -
The creditors are proving impossible to deal with and short of a sudden appearance on the scene of wealthy art patrons, we are going to be turned out of this dear little house where I led a simple life and was able to work so well. I do not know what will become of us.
Claude Monet -
Now I really feel the landscape, I can be bold and include every tone of pink and blue: it's enchanting, it's delicious, and I hope it will please you.
Claude Monet -
I insist upon 'doing it alone'. Much as I enjoyed making the trip there with Renoir as a tourist, I'd find it hard to work there together. I have always worked better alone and from my own impressions.. .If he Renoir knew I was about to go, Renoir would doubtless want to join me and that would be equally disastrous for both of us.
Claude Monet -
I get madder and madder on giving back what I feel.
Claude Monet -
I work at my garden all the time and with love. What I need most are flowers, always. My heart is forever in Giverny.
Claude Monet
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All of a sudden I had the revelation of how enchanting my pond was.
Claude Monet -
I never draw except with brush and paint.
Claude Monet -
I have once more taken up things that can't be done: water with grasses weaving on the bottom. But I'm always tackling that sort of thing!
Claude Monet -
The older I become the more I realize of that I have to work very hard to reproduce what I search: the instantaneous. The influence of the atmosphere on the things and the light scattered throughout.
Claude Monet