Oscar-Claude Monet revealed his drawing skills at school. During dreary lessons at the lycee in Le Havre, the bored schoolboy drew caricatures of his teachers. Soon he was so adept that he found ready purchasers among his classmates. Claude followed up these successes out of school and earned his first money with satirical drawings. As caricature was in fashion and Monet used a proven, popular approach, the 17-year old cartoonist, rapidly established an eager group of regular customers. He was even allowed to exhibit his drawings in the window of a frame-maker` s shop. In such favorable circumstances, the youthful entrepreneur proceeded by leaps and bounds to become a caricaturist of city-wide repute.
Despite this early success, Claude` s father showed appreciation of his son` s activities.
Monet found a more receptive audience in his childless aunt, who devoted greater attention to her nephew after the death of his mother.