Monet's Étretat

Monet's Étretat

Memory is a funny thing. The painting that, more than any other, got me interested in art was Claude Monet's painting of the cliffs at Étretat. Thing is: Monet made several paintings of this natural rock formation on the Normandy coast, and I cannot decide which was the one that first had such an impact. Monet was an Impressionist. His painting "Impression, Sunrise" gave the name to the movement - used pejoratively by a French art critic reviewing the first major Impressionist exhibition in 1874. Impressionists enjoyed painting outdoors with the ever-changing interplay of light on objects and often made numerous paintings of the same subject. Normandy with its changeable weather was an excellent environment for the Impressionists. Between October and December 1885, Monet made nearly fifty paintings of the Normandy coast. I think "my" Étretat is the 1883 The Manneporte (Étretat). But it could have been the 1886 The Manneporte near Étretat. Both are beautiful and both are in the Met in New York City, where I grew up. So it could have been either one. - RJC 2/3/2018