Claude Oscar Monet; Paris, 1840 - Giverny, 1926 was a French painter, key figure in the Impressionist movement. His artistic inclinations were born from his contact with Boudin in Le Havre, and his excursions to the countryside and the beach during his adolescence guided the subsequent development of his painting. After military service in Algeria, he returned to Paris, where he met young artists such as Renoir, Sisley, and Bazille at Gleyre's studio, and at the popular Café Guerbois he came into contact with a group of intellectuals, writers, and painters such as Zola, Nadar, Cézanne, and Degas, who, together with Manet, were beginning to oppose the established art world.