Claude Monet Cliff Walk at Pourville Light Book

CLAUDE MONET CLIFF WALK AT POURVILLE

Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926) was one of the founders of the Impressionism movement, which sought to record a moment in time through short descriptive brush strokes and generously applied color on site, rather than a faithfully detailed reproduction rendered in a studio.

In 1882, Monet left Paris and went to Normandy to paint and escape personal and professional pressures. Three years earlier, his wife Camille had died, and with an economic recession sweeping the country, his art sales had slowed considerably. Settling in a small fishing village in northern France, he quickly became enamored of the surrounding countryside. In Cliff Walk at Pourville, Monet creates a windswept atmosphere with swirling brushwork and bright sunlit color. The two women blend seamlessly into the landscape as they pause to take in the view of sailboats bobbing on a turquoise sea.