Étretat: The Beach and the Falaise d'Amont

Claude Monet arrived in Étretat, on the Normandy coast, with his two sons, his companion, Alice Hoschedé, and her six children for a working vacation in mid-September 1885. By the time he left in mid-December he had initiated 51 canvases, many of which he reworked back at his studio in Giverny. The majority feature the rock formations that flank the bay of Étretat. These subjects proved to be among Monet’s most precipitous and enchanting: the location was as physically dangerous to navigate as it was sublime to behold. Étretat: The Beach and the Falaise d’Amont is the most finished of four canvases depicting this particular promontory. (Museum: Art Institute of Chicago)