Claude Monet, one of the founders of the French Impressionist painting, was born on 14th November 1840, in Paris, France. He was the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the Impressionist paintings’ philosophy, of expressing an individual’s thoughts before nature through Landscape.
Monet adopted a method of painting, in which the same scene was repeated many times to capture the change of light and passing of the seasons, from the French countryside while documenting.
In 1899, he was best-known for his painting of the water lilies, the first time in vertical views, with a Japanese bridge as a central feature. Hence, he became one of the best painters in the list of large-scale paintings for about his next twenty years of life.
Nevertheless, Monet’s life was marked by a series of unlucky events. His father wanted Monet to go into business, but Monet’s interests were in arts. As a result, the relationship between him and his father grew so much worse when he decided to become an artist.
The relationship was so strained that even when Monet and his wife were desperately in need of financial assistance for their first son, his father never gave him a penny and Monet attempted suicide.
To make matters worse, in 1876, two years before the birth of their second son, Monet’s wife was diagnosed with tuberculosis which eventually led to uterine cancer and her death three years later. Her death made Monet a depressed man for several months, refusing to even look at his works of art that she had modelled.
When Monet eventually came out of his depression with the help of his wife’s friend, he began again with his artworks and gained some recognition and fame but no substantial financial gain. So, his family suffered immensely. Rather than leaving art and taking up another job, Monet never gave up. He persevered and had a strong belief that art was his true passion and his relentless determination helped him see better days.
Just like his other artist friends at the time, Monet met with so many rejections while trying to exhibit his artwork. Monet and his friends resorted to exhibiting their artworks independently and the “Impressionism” exhibition, held in April 1874, became their first independent exhibition. The term “Impressionism” was derived from the title of Monet’s painting “Impression, Soleil Levant.
” Impression, Soleil Levant depicted a port landscape, which was known as Le Havre port, on the Impression, Sunrise. Critics reviewed this as Impressionists appropriated the term for themselves.
Monet soon became a very famous and wealthy artist and was sculptured as “the driving force behind Impressionism.”
C.S Lewis said,“Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to achievement. One fails forward toward success.”
While most people wish their lives could be smooth and straight, not a single human has ever experienced a straight life.
What many do to escape pains in life is to attempt as little things as they can, to avoid anything that may lead to pain or failures.
The problem about this strategy is that the strongest trees are those most troubled by the wind. Gold needs fire to shine. Pains don’t usually crush us; they make us stronger, so if you avoid pains, you probably avoid progress.
Woody Allen said, “If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative.”
Most of the things we termed “Unlucky” are what happened to us because we took actions and tried things.
You can’t have a divorce except you tried to trust someone with your heart. You can’t lose a business except you start one. You can’t fall except you stand up and walk.
Now that life seems totally unfair to you, the best way to forge ahead is to change the way you see those horrible events.
Stop seeing failures as a sign that you’re not capable; you’re unlucky or unfortunate. Instead, start seeing failures and misfortunes as part of life.
Henry Ward Beecher said, “Our best successes often come after our greatest disappointments.”
Think about that!
“Our best successes often come after our greatest disappointments.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ0hO40VjEk
