Monet was born in Paris in 1840. He spent most of his childhood in the northern seaport of Le Havre. Monet began drawing as a teenager. He loved the effect that sunlight had on the water and everything around him. Monet, along with a group of other young French painters, founded a new movement in painting that would come to be known as Impressionism (named after a painting of Monet's called Impression at Sunrise.) This group of painters enjoyed painting outdoors. They liked to paint with bright colors and quick brushstrokes. They liked to paint nature and people doing everyday activities. Monet and his wife and their eight children lived in a small village outside of Paris, called Giverny. They lived in a pink house with green shutters which still exists today and is visited each year by people from all around the world. Monet designed his beautiful gardens for his paintings. He had a Japanese-style bridge built over his waterlily pond.
