Claude Monet is generally considered to be the central figure in the development of Impressionism. In his long and prolific career, spanning over 70 years, he produced hundreds of works, many of which are among the most admired in the history of art. Monet became a truly great landscape painter and an incomparable painter of light because he faced up to and resolved one of the greatest concerns of every artist: how to reconcile his perception of the three-dimensional effects of his chosen subject with the demands of transferring them to a two-dimensional canvas. Monet's main occupation throughout his long life was to experiment with an ever-expanding range of techniques and effects that would allow him 'to depict my impressions in the face of the most fleeting effects', which were mainly the result of the movement of light, atmosphere and air around his subject. Working out of doors in front of nature was what set Monet apart from academic artists producing highly-varnished, impressively large paintings that followed all the rules of Classical art. For Monet, and the half-dozen young artists who were his friends in 1860s Paris, the only place to work was outside in the fresh air and in the midst of their subject. Monet remained true to these ideas when working on his great series of paintings, and applied them to his ground-breaking studies of haystacks in Giverny, poplars along the River Epte, and the facade of Rouen Cathedral in all weathers and seasons. Lastly he turned his attention to his own garden at Giverny, to the waterlilies, the lily pond and the Japanese bridge, culminating in the 'Great Decorations' which grace the Orangerie in Paris today.