Still Life with Pheasant

April 1859

First trip to Paris

Monet arrived in Paris, immediately visited the Salon, and became a regular at the Brasserie des Martyrs, a gathering place for writers and artists. Two months later he decided to stay in the capital, declining to enter the École des Beaux-Arts.

c. February 1860

Académie Suisse: meeting Pissarro

In early 1860, probably in February, Monet enrolled at the Académie Suisse on the Île de la Cité, where he met Camille Pissarro.

April 1861 – November 1862

Military service in Algeria

Monet enlisted in the 1st Regiment of African Light Cavalry (Chasseurs d'Afrique) and arrived in Algeria in June 1861. In spring 1862 he contracted typhoid; his aunt bought him out of the army. The light and colors of North Africa, in his words, "contained the germ of my future researches."

summer 1862

Meeting Jongkind

While working near Cape La Hève in the summer of 1862, Monet met and befriended the Dutch painter Johan Jongkind, who alongside Boudin became an important mentor to him.

December 1862

Gleyre's studio: Renoir, Sisley, Bazille

Back in Paris, Monet entered the studio of Charles Gleyre, where he met Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley and Frédéric Bazille — the future core of the Impressionist group. Bazille became his closest friend.