Étretat, the Porte d'Aval: Fishing Boats Leaving the Harbor

Étretat, the Porte d'Aval: Fishing Boats Leaving the Harbor (1885) depicts the spectacular natural arch at Étretat on the Norman coast, a location Monet returned to repeatedly in the 1880s and which he painted from multiple viewpoints in all weathers and times of day. The chalk cliffs and their wave-carved arches offered dramatic motifs that challenged his skills in rendering both rock and water, solid and fluid, near and far. The fishing boats provide a human scale against the monumental natural architecture. Now at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon, this canvas exemplifies Monet's Étretat campaign paintings.

The dramatic arch frames the fishing fleet against open sea. Monet uses sharp contrasts between the dark cliff faces and the bright, foam-flecked water below. Broken brushwork renders sea spray and movement, while the solid cliff is painted with firmer, more deliberate strokes of grey-white chalk tones.