Cliffs at Étretat is a series of about fifty oil paintings byClaude Monet.[1][2] The series depicts the chalk cliffs ofÉtretat, a commune along the northern coast of France. The works depict the seaside town's limestone cliffs and sea arches under varying times of day and weather conditions, reflecting Monet's growing interest in serial views of a single motif.[2][3] The Étretat paintings are regarded by art historians as a pivotal stage in Monet's career, marking the transition from his earlierImpressionist practice to the sustained observation of light and atmosphere that defined his later work.[2][4]
Étretat is a coastal town in Normandy, northern France, known for its dramatic chalk cliffs and natural rocks shaped by erosion.[5][3] The shoreline features two prominent natural arches, thePorte d'Amont to the northeast and thePorte d'Aval to the southwest, the latter accompanied by a spire known as the Aiguille ("The Needle"), which rises more more than seventy meters from the water.[3]
By the mid-nineteenth century, Étretat had become a popular destination for tourists, writers, and artists.[5][3]Eugéne Delacroix andGustave Courbet had painted the cliffs before Monet, helping to establish the site as a modern landscape subject. Courbet's seascapes from the 1860s emphasized the physical textures of rock and surf, reflecting theRealist artistic movement's interest in unidealized natural forms.[citation needed]
Monet was familiar with these works and visited Étretat in the winter of 1868-1869 with his first wife,Camille, and their young son Jean.[3] During this stay, he paintedStormy Sea at Étretat (Musée d'Orsay), one of his earliest explorations of the site and its dramatic coastal conditions.[3]
Monet returned to Étretat repeatedly in the 1880s, working for extended periods between 1883 and 1886.[1] Earlier coastal works from Sainte-Adresse and Trouville had included promenaders and villas, but at Étretat, he focused almost entirely on the cliffs, arches, and shoreline.[5] By typically eliminating human presence, Monet emphasized the interaction of rock, sea, and sky as the primary subjects of the series.[2]
During these campaigns he often rented rooms at the Hôtel Blanquet, where he could study the coastline directly from his window.[2] Many canvases were begun outdoors and later reworked in hisGiverny studio. This back-and-forth process sometimes lasted months, and some works remained with the artist for years before he considered them finished.[3][2]
Monet’s personal circumstances also shaped these campaigns. During this time, he lived in Giverny withAlice Hoschedé and their blended family of eight children from previous marriages, a domestic arrangement complicated by Alice’s still-legal marriage to her estranged husbandErnest Hoschedé.[2] Letters from this period describe his dependence on Alice to manage the household in his absence and his continual need to produce and sell work to support the family.[3]
Monet also maintained close correspondence with his dealerPaul Durant-Ruel during this period, after resuming a regular working relationship in 1881.[3] Durand-Ruel provided advances for painting materials and the purchase of works still in progress. Monet kept him informed of his Étretat paintings through frequent correspondence, sometimes requesting additional funds for household expenses. His letters from these years offer detailed insight into his daily frustrations, including storms, shifting tides, and rapidly changing light that often forced him to stop and restart canvases.[3] In March 1884 he wrote: “It always seems to me that in beginning again I will do better,” a remark that reflects both his dissatisfaction and his commitment to serial observation.[3]
The Étretat paintings illustrate Monet'splein-air method, which required rapid adjustments as weather and tide altered the scene.[3][2] He often worked on multiple canvases in a single session to track changing atmospheric conditions before refining them in the studio.[3]
The series also demonstrates the exposed, individual brushwork associated with earlyImpressionism.[3][4] Thick strokes articulate the mass of the cliffs, while broken, directional marks evoke the shimmer of light on the sea.[3] Monet’s handling at Étretat was frequently described as spontaneous, yet the structure of the compositions shows careful planning. Contemporary accounts and technical analyses indicate that the apparent immediacy of individual strokes was balanced by deliberate placement of related hues and values, like placing greens and purples of similar intensity next to one another in the water, to avoid abrupt transitions and maintain overall coherence.[3]
Monet’s palette in these works tends toward subdued tones, though certain canvases incorporate more intense, chemically derived pigments for heightened contrasts.[3] The visible brushwork, lack of traditional modeling, and emphasis on the physical gesture of painting merge the external scene with the artist’s subjective perception.[4]
Several compositions required considerable physical effort to obtain specific viewpoints. Some coastal vantage points were accessible only at low tide or by climbing the promontory above the Porte d’Amont and descending the rocky shoreline.[3] These chosen viewpoints shaped the resulting works, which balance direct observation with Monet’s existing ideas of what constituted a compelling pictorial structure.[3]
Although many later Étretat paintings omit figures, earlier works such asStormy Sea at Étretat include groups of local inhabitants rather than fashionable tourists. Their presence provides scale and situates the viewer alongside residents accustomed to judging the severity of the weather, reinforcing the painting’s sense of immediacy and local knowledge.[3]
Paintings from the Étretat campaigns were shown in Paris in the mid-1880s in exhibitions organized by Durand-Ruel.[2] Viewers encountered multiple views of the same motif of arches, cliffs, and the Aiguille hung together, enabling comparison across changing conditions.[2][4] Reactions at the time were mixed: some critics admired the dramatic treatment of natural forces, while others found the repetition unpersuasive or overly experimental.[4]
The series is seen as a precursor to Monet’s later explorations of shifting light in the same motif, like theHaystacks,Rouen Cathedral, andWater Lilies series.[4] The paintings have appeared in major retrospectives and exhibitions devoted to Monet’s work on the Normandy coast, and many works from the Étretat series are now held in major museums around the world, including theMetropolitan Museum of Art,Musée d'Orsay, and theNational Gallery of Canada.[1]
| Image | Name | Year | Size | Museum |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Sunset at Étretat (W 817)[6] | 1883 | 55 × 81 cm | North Carolina Museum of Art |
 | Sunset at Étretat (W 818)[7] | 1883 | 66 × 71 cm | Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy[8] |
 | Stormy Sea at Étretat (W 821)[7] | 1883 | 81 × 100 cm | Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon |
 | The Cliff and the Porte d'Aval, Rough Seas (W 820)[7] | 1883 | 73 × 100 cm | Museum of Montserrat[9] |
 | The Manneporte (Étretat) (W 822)[10] | 1883 | 75 × 103 cm | Wallraf-Richartz-Museum |
.jpg) | Aiguille and Porte d’Aval, Étretat - Sunset (W P77)[11] | 1883–1885 | 18 × 40 cm | Private collection |
.jpg) | The Manneporte (Etretat) (W 832)[12] | 1883 | 65 × 81 cm | Metropolitan Museum of Art[13] |
 | Étretat, the Manneporte, Reflections on Water (W 1038)[14] | 1885 | 62 × 81,5 cm | Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen[15] |
 | The Manne-Porte, Étretat (W 1037)[14] | 1885 | 65 × 81 cm | Philadelphia Museum of Art[16] |
 | The Falaise d'Aval, Étretat (W 1019)[14] | 1885 | 65 × 92 cm | Israel Museum[17] |
_W_1049.jpg) | The Rock Needle seen through the Porte d'Aval (W 1049)[14] | 1885 | 65 × 92 cm | National Gallery of Canada[18] |
 | Étretat, the Porte d'Aval : Fishing Boats Leaving Port (W 1047)[14] | 1885 | 50 × 37 cm | Museum of Fine Arts of Dijon[19] |
 | Cliffs at Étretat (W 1034)[14] | 1885 | 65 × 81 cm | Clark Art Institute[20] |
 | Rainy Weather, Étretat (W 1044)[14] | 1886 | 73 × 60 cm | National Gallery of Norway[21] |
 | Cliffs at Étretat orFishing Boats Leaving Etretat (W 1046)[14] | 1886 | 66 × 81 cm | Pushkin Museum[22] |
 | The Manneporte near Étretat (W 1052)[14] | 1886 | 81 × 65 cm | Metropolitan Museum of Art[23] |
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