1 A Boy Who Loved Drawing

Chapter 1 A Boy Who Loved Drawing The artist Claude Monet was born in Paris, France, on November 14, 1840. But when he was five, his family moved to Le Havre, a great seaport.

As a boy Claude hated school. His school was open only two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. Still, he could barely stand it. School always made him feel like he was in "a prison." When the sun was shining, he wanted to be outdoors, in the fields, or by the sea. Throughout his life he was a person who never wanted to stick by the rules.

Claude's father was a grocer. He sold supplies to

the captains of the tall ships in the harbor. Claude loved to go down to the docks. He liked to watch the men unload cargo from ships. There was mahogany from South America, sugar from the West Indies, coffee beans from Java, tea from India, and dates from Persia. He liked to hear the men speaking foreign languages. Claude's mother died when he was sixteen. His Aunt Marie-Jeanne had no children of her own so she helped to raise him. He was a tall, cheerful boy. He always liked to draw. He began drawing pictures of imaginary animals and funny pictures of his teachers.

Claude also took drawing classes. His teacher taught the way everybody taught art then. Students first drew pictures of statues. After years of this, the students were allowed to draw living people. If they took classes long enough, the students would learn to paint.

Claude did not like the teacher or the class. He kept on with his own drawing, using a pencil or pen and ink to turn out quick sketches of people in Le Havre. A store that sold art supplies framed his drawings and put them in the window. Claude sold many of his pictures.