When Impression, Sunset was exhibited at the first Impressionistic Exhibition, the name Impressionism took hold, and the style dominated French painting for the next twenty years, before the likes of Picasso and Georges Braque entered the Parisian art scene.
Monet described the titling of Impressionist. Sunset:
“Landscape is nothing but an impression, and an instantaneous one, hence this label that was given us, by the way because of me. . .”
Early, in this period, artists embraced the new style including the most famous of the era such as Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas and Edouard Manet, who in some ways preceded Monet’ impressionism. Before the end of the decade many of these artists retreated from impressionism, while Monet was to pursue more deeply the ramifications of impressionism to the end of his life.
In 1883, Monet moved he and his family to the country in the vicinity of Giverny where he was to live for the remainder of his life. Although he would travel and paint throughout Europe, he most enjoyed painting the gardens and ponds of his Giverny estate. For collectors, these are the most sought after works, especially his water lily paintings like Le Bassin Aux Nymphéas (Water Lily Pond) which sold in London in 2008 for over $80 million.
Monet succumbed to lung cancer in 1926 at the age of 86. His Giverny estate with his home, garden and ponds are a mecca for artists all over the world seeking to paint the light of the impressionists. His burial site is also found in Giverny next to his second wife Alice.