Oscar Claude Monet Oscar Claude Monet was born on November 14, 1840 in Paris, France. Monet spent most of his childhood in Le Havre, France. In Le Havre, Monet studied drawing and painted seascapes with a French painter Eugene Louis Boudin in his teens. By 1859 Monet committed himself a career to be an artist. Monet spent a lot of time in Paris around 1859. By 1860 Monet met a pre-impressionist painter, Edouard Manet. Monet also met other French painters destined to form the impressionist school. Monet met Camille Pissaro, Pierre Auguste Renoir, and Alfred Sisley. Monet painted simple landscapes and sketch like scene