Claude monet (french pronunciation: ​[klod mɔnɛ/mɔne]) (14 november 1840 – 5 december 1926) was a founder of french impressionist painting and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement"s philosophy of expressing one"s perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting.[1][2] the term impressionism is derived from the title of his painting impression, sunrise (impression, soleil levant).