5 Hardest Times

Chapter 5 Hardest Times The Monets' second child, a little boy named Michel, was born in the spring of 1878. Camille's health was worse than ever. Ernest lost all his money so he and his wife Alice and their six children moved in with the Monets. Everyone lived in a big house that had steep steps leading down to the Seine.

Alice did the housekeeping and looked after Camille and the baby Michel. She also gave piano lessons to earn money. Ernest never paid his share of household expenses and ran up bills. It was a long, hard winter. The cold weather broke records. It started snowing on November 29 and kept on snowing all through December. The snow was several feet deep. Trains often didn't run. Often the roads were blocked. When the Seine froze, the children had fun walking across the river to the town on the other side. The grown-ups,

however, were worried and miserable. Monet continued to paint outdoors. Sometimes he would wear three coats and use a hot water bottle to stay as warm as possible. A neighbor came to their rescue. He bought some of Monet's pictures, which kept everyone from starving. Monet sent twenty-nine pictures to the Impressionist salon that year. Mary Cassatt, an American painter in Paris, bought one of them for three hundred dollars. But many people still thought his style was odd looking. One art reviewer said he must have done all twenty-nine paintings in one afternoon. Besides all the money troubles, Camille was dying of cancer. Monet was frantic to find a way to pay for the doctor and Camille's medicine. He pawned everything to raise as much cash as he could. And for the first time, he could not paint. Camille, in great pain, died on September 5, 1879. Strange as it sounds, Monet decided to paint one last picture of her on her deathbed. He was shocked to discover that even in grief, he noticed the way

the light shone on the still face of his beloved wife. In the picture, she does not look like an angel at peace. She looks like a dead woman. He was a slave to his art, he admitted to a friend. Nothing mattered more to him. Alice and her children remained in the house with Monet and his two boys. The next winter was as cold as the one before. The Seine froze solid again. All eight children were sick.

Monet was painting again and worked on many pictures of the Seine that winter. He never grew tired of studying the effect of light on ice and snow. After the thaw came, chunks of ice floated down the river. Monet painted them, too, using gloomy grays and dark purples. When these pictures were put up for sale, everyone said they looked even more unfinished than his usual work.

In a town on the coast near Le Havre, he painted seascapes. One day a heavy rain began to fall. A storm was brewing. Monet decided to try and paint it. He set up his easel on a cliff overlooking the sea and latched it down with rope. He kept painting while waves broke against the cliff just below him. The waves got higher. Monet painted away.