This portrait of Claude Monet is a work by which artist?

The "Portrait of the Painter Claude Monet" is an 1875 oil on canvas by Pierre-Auguste Renoir exhibited at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841 – 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. By the mid-1880s, he had broken with the movement to apply a more disciplined technique to portraits and figure paintings, particularly of women.

He admired the works by Raphael, Velázquez, and Rubens, and the latter's influence may be seen in his works. Renoir started to explore Renaissance painting in the middle of his career, which led him to integrate more line and composition into his mature works.

In this portrait Renoir portrays Monet at the age of 35 holding his colour palette and paint brushes and wearing his painting frock. His figure stands out against the light from the window with the light focusing on the painter's face which creates a brightness in contrast to the darkness of his clothes.

An oleander branch above his head frames the scene. Monet is standing still and gives the impression of only doing so for a moment before returning to his own work.

At the second Impressionist exhibition in 1876 critics considered Renoir's portrait of Monet to be the equal of the great masters of a previous era. Emile Zola wrote that "his work is worthy of Rembrandt, illuminated by the brilliant light of Velasquez".