Claude Monet: Life and Art offers a comprehensive overview of the life, work, and legacy of the quintessential Impressionist painter Claude Monet, whose more than 2500 paintings, drawings, and pastels radically altered the course of modern art by transforming how light, color, and subject matter could be represented in painting; rather than viewing Monet solely through his depictions of nature's beauty, Paul Hayes Tucker situates Monet's achievement in the broader context of his life and times, interpreting individual paintings alongside biographical detail and the social, political, and artistic forces that shaped his aesthetic, including the Franco-Prussian War, the Commune insurrection of 1870-71, the Dreyfus Affair, and World War I, while also examining Monet's own self-imposed expectations, market pressures, and his belief in art's power to express ideas. Claude Monet: Life and Art traces the development of Monet's artistic career from his early works through his mature masterpieces, offering both biographical narrative and critical interpretation in equal measure; the book examines the evolution of Monet's style and technique in relation to key historical events and cultural shifts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and includes extended discussion of how individual works reflect Monet's responses to personal challenges, artistic ambitions, and changing artistic markets, illustrating how Monet's choices of subject, setting, and medium contributed to his lasting influence on the Impressionist movement and beyond, and blending documentary material with analysis of public reception to paint a full portrait of an artist deeply aware of his own talents and determined to secure his place among the greats of French art.