Claude Monet was a famous French impressionist painter born in 1840 in Paris. He was initially expected to join the family grocery business but pursued his passion for art instead. One of his mentors, Eugene Boudin, taught him to paint landscapes en plein air using oils. Along with artists like Renoir and Sisley, Monet helped develop the impressionist style of using loose brushstrokes and broken colors to capture light and shadows. Though he struggled financially, Monet married twice and had two sons. He is renowned for his mastery of color and light in landscapes and his role in founding the impressionist movement.