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The Surprising Self-Doubts of One of the Most Famous in Artists in History
Tenacity and triumph from a creative life
Self-doubt can haunt the lives of creative people.
Artists from history suffered from this impediment as much as any modern-day creative. Even the most famous painters frequently found their progress stifled by commercial frustration and critical condemnation.
Such was the case with the French Impressionist painter Claude Monet. Despite his now-celebrated status, Monet long wrestled with the uncertain prospect of creative survival and recognition.
So how did he end up becoming one of the world’s most famous artists?
Nearly giving up
Here is a wonderful depiction of Monet working on board a small riverboat, converted into an artist’s studio.
The image perfectly captures the outdoor approach of the Impressionist artists: it shows the painter at work under a blue sky, upon a waterway jostling with ultramarine ripples, painting the world as the eye experiences it — shaped by the immediate and sometimes dazzling sensation of light and colour.
The painting was made by his friend Édouard Manet in 1874. With its briskly painted surface, it seems to give us a glimpse into the working life of a French painter, confidently roaming the great outdoors on the hunt for a light-filled motif to receive on their canvas, whilst the chimneys of Parisian factories bellowed in the far distance.
Yet wind back just a few years to a June day in 1868, and someone walking along a particular stretch of the Seine riverbank might have witnessed a rather confounding scene: a man in his late 20s throwing himself into the water from a bridge.
How long the man struggled in the currents of the river is unclear. Thankfully, any alarm would have soon given way to relief; the individual intent on self-destruction eventually changed his mind and he swam to the shore.
