​Born into a provincial bourgeois family, he did not live up to his father's ambitions. This led to financial difficulties which consequently drove Monet to attempt suicide. Things finally turned around when he eventually married with his father's blessing and exiled himself to London, where he met his future dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel. Durand-Ruel was willing to support the painter, who loved to paint outdoors — much to the chagrin of the older Gustave Courbet.

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