Theodore Earl Butler

Theodore Earl Butler painted the village and countryside of Giverny, Claude Monet’s home, in a bright Impressionist style: haystacks, the village church, river and landscape views and scenes of his own family life, with light colour and loose brushwork that later grew bolder and more expressive.

Born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1861, he studied with William Merritt Chase at the Art Students League in New York and then in Paris at the Académie Colarossi and the Académie Julian. He first came to Giverny in 1888, became a friend of Monet and in 1892 married Monet’s stepdaughter Suzanne Hoschedé. After her death he married her sister Marthe in 1900. He showed at the 1913 Armory Show in New York and helped found the Society of Independent Artists. He died in Giverny in 1936.

Boats at Etretat and French Landscape show his Monet-inspired colour.