The Burden of Poverty

For the first forty years of his life, Monet battled poverty with an intensity that matched his artistic struggles. The romanticized image of the bohemian artist fails to capture the grinding reality of his financial hardships. Letters from the 1860s and 1870s paint a desperate picture: "I am absolutely without a penny, and don't know where to turn," he wrote to Bazille in 1868. "We have been without bread, without fuel for the fire, without light for the past eight days."

The poverty was not genteel but brutal. Creditors seized his paintings, forcing him to slash canvases to prevent their confiscation. Landlords evicted him and his family, sometimes in the middle of winter. He begged friends for loans of five or ten francs to buy food for his children. In 1868, in despair over his inability to provide for Camille and infant Jean, he attempted suicide by throwing himself into the Seine.

These financial struggles directly impacted his art. He often lacked money for paint and canvas, forcing him to reuse old canvases or work on cheaper materials. He couldn't afford models, which partly explains his focus on landscape and his use of family members in figure paintings. The constant moves disrupted his work, and the stress affected his productivity and mental state.

Yet paradoxically, these struggles may have strengthened his art. The urgency of capturing effects quickly, partly born from not knowing when he might next afford materials, contributed to the spontaneity of Impressionism. His intimate knowledge of different regions of France, gained through forced relocations, enriched his subject matter. Most importantly, his refusal to compromise his vision despite financial pressure demonstrated an integrity that would eventually win him respect.