Brief Report

This coastal landscape in Normandy with a view of the natural rock arch of Aval is said to have been one of four pictures painted by Monet from his win- dow in an annex of the Hotel Blanquet, where he was staying while in Étretat [Wildenstein 1979, cat. nos. 821-824]. However to judge by all the observa- tions of the painting technique, it could just as well have been painted immediately in situ. This latter view is supported by the terseness of the drawn composition planning and the wet-in-wet paint applications with many places where the ground has been left visible, which all point to rapid execution (figs. 7-9). Another pointer to a plein air execution is the obviously unintentional damage to the still wet paint layer on the left of the picture (fig. 12). Monet chose a pre-primed canvas which has a second, yellow-tinted ground layer confined to the area covered by the picture (fig. 6). Monet integrated both the colour of this second ground and the still visible texture of the canvas into the composition. Thus the cream-coloured ground can be seen not only in the many areas which were left unpainted, but also in the many other places where the brush-strokes only grazed the high points of the weave (fig. 8). Monet used these to lay in most of the forms and motifs before moving on to more copious applications of paint, which he continued to execute briskly. The generally restricted palette which Monet used for this painting, includes, interestingly enough, a black pigment (fig. 11). The brushwork varies according to the shape and the motif. Conspicuous are the often sickle-shaped, and sometimes spiral, almost somersaulting brushstrokes, with which he effectively depicts the waves of the sea (fig. 9). The open technique with paint applications ranging from the thin and semi-transparent via opaque to impasto lend this painting overall a sketch-like character. The signature in the bottom right-hand corner was evidently added by Monet later in violet paint, which was not used anywhere else in the picture (fig. 5). Wildenstein judges Monet’s dating to 1884 as erroneous, and believes it to be part of a group painted in January 1883. It is interesting to note that there is a pencil sketch for this painting in one of Monet’s sketchbooks (Musée Marmottan, 5131, fol. 25 r.); it is followed by a sketch (5131, fol. 26v.) which served as the basis for a painting dating from 1884 [Wildenstein 1979, cat. no. 908, La falaise d’Aval, avec la Porte et l’Aiguille].

Claude Monet
Fishing Boats on the Beach at Etretat, 1883/84, oil on canvas, 73.5 x 100.5 cm, WRM 3120

Claude Monet

born on 14 November 1840 in Paris,
died on 5 December 1926 in Giverny

Brief report with complete data as downloadable pdf-file

Further illustrations:

Fig. 02

Verso


Fig. 03

Raking light


Fig. 04

Transmitted light


Fig. 05

Detail, signature


Fig. 06

Two-layer ground, visible brushwork in the upper, cream-coloured layer, microscopic photograph (M = 1 mm)


Fig. 07

Sparse underdrawing in charcoal, microscopic photograph (M = 1 mm), with mapping of the stereo-microscopic findings


Fig. 08

Detail, open painting technique, visibly integrating the creamcoloured ground


Fig. 09

Detail, spiral somersaulting brushstrokes in the region
of the sea


Fig. 10

Details, pentimento in the rock arch in incident light, transmitted light and raking light


Fig. 11

Wet-in-wet paint application with black pigment, microscopic
photograph (M = 1 mm)


Fig. 12

Detail, unintentional damage to what was still the wet paint on the lefthand edge of the picture