ry, The Woman in the Green Dress (reportedly painted in four days), bought both recognition and introduction to his mistress, Camille Doncieux. Monet, desperate to achieve complete success, immersed himself in his next project and entry to the Salon for the following year: Women in the Garden. This painting too k a very long time to finish because Monet would only paint when the light was falling correctly on every aspect of the painting's subject-matter. In order to complete the top of his canvas, Monet dug himself a ditch so that he could continue to paint th e scene from the same perspective (other painters simply stood upon a ladder). Despite these many arduous efforts, the Salon rejected the painting when it was finally entered for the following season. Shortly after the Salon's decision, Camille became pregnant. They had little money and were largely dependent on Monet's friends. Madame Lecadre took Monet in to her house, but Camille was forced to remain in Paris. This marked the beginning of a lifestyle which was becoming increasingly itinerant, culminating in Monet's move to London in the early 1870's to avoid involvement in the Franco-Prussian War. Here he was exposed to the English masters, Constable and Turner. Later, Monet returned again to Le Havre where he painted the often cited Impression: Sunrise, the painting largely credited with the naming of the entire movement. After the completion of the Sunrise, Monet moved back to Paris and finally rented a house at Argenteuil on the Seine where he and Camille lived for six years. This period represents the height of the impressionist period Frequently joined by Renoir and other friends from his student days, Monet painted every aspect of life and the world out door s. In 1874, Manet, Degas, Czanne, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley and Monet put together an exhibition which has been vastly talked about in the history books but was, unfortunately, a contemporary disaster. The exhibition ...
