Claude Monet’s father, Adolphe Monet, was a grocer in Le Havre.
Adolphe wanted Claude to join the family business, but Monet was more interested in art from an early age. His mother, Louise-Justine Aubrée Monet, encouraged his artistic ambitions, while his father viewed art as an uncertain career.
Monet first became known locally for caricatures, which he sold in a shop window. These early drawings helped him meet Eugène Boudin, whose outdoor oil paintings strongly influenced Monet’s development.
The family’s grocery business is sometimes confused with Monet’s later financial struggles as an independent painter. His father’s occupation describes the family background, not Monet’s own profession: Monet became one of the leading French Impressionist painters.