hool, which provided a traditional education in the classical languages and commerce. Leon went on to study chemistry, a serious and solid profession in which he did well, but Oscar-Claude was of less credit to his parents. He claimed that 'school always felt like a prison'. As an elderly man he insisted that he had never paid attention to lessons, spending his tome doodling, 'I drew garlands in the margins…and covered the blue paper of my exercise books with the most bizarre ornaments'. At some time between 1855 and 1857 Monet left school and expressed the wish to become a painter. (Gordon, 37)By the time he was seventeen, Monet was already making money from his work and had won a local reputation as a caricaturist. Skillful and amusing, his caricatures were displayed in the window of a local frame maker, Monsieur Gravier, where they drew crowds of appreciative viewers. Gravier also displayed paintings by the landscape painter Eugene Boudin, who was an old friend of his. Monet's development of friendship and informal tutelage of Boudin proved to be formative for Monet's future direction as a landscape painter. (Gordon, 38)In 1859, Monet set off to study painting in Paris. Paying his way with the 2,000 francs saved from the sales of his caricatures, he set himself up in the city with supreme confidence. During this time Monet was living a very bohemian type of lifestyle, selling whatever paintings possible in order support himself. In 1865, Monet began to regularly submit works to the Salon, one of the largest and most prestigious window shops in France, which posted the works of 'up and coming' artists. During the 1860's audiences were enormous, up to 400,000 visitors for a single exhibition, and the publicity generated by a good Salon review could make an unknown painter rich and fashionable within a year. After one exhibition the conservative critic, Paul Mantz, commented positively on Monet's The Pointe de la Heve at...
