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Lot Essay
In 1882, Claude Monet, then living at Poissy to the northwest of Paris, undertook a major painting trip along the shores of Normandy. He had visited his native region a number of times during the 1870s, but 1882 was a year of unrivalled artistic productivity.
Without doubt his favourite site during the 1880s was the Normandy coast; it obviously was in his blood from his childhood in Le Havre and Saint-Addresse and was easily accessible from Vtheuil and later from Giverny where he moved in 1883. Of all the places he visited on the coast, several became his most frequented, notably Pourville where the present work was painted, Varengeville, Etretat, and Dieppe.
Monet arrived in Pourville in mid-February 1882 after taking the train to Dieppe earlier that month in search of new and challenging motifs for his paintings. In a letter to Alice Hoschd from Pourville dated 15 February 1882, he wrote: 'The countryside is very beautiful and I am very sorry I did not come here earlier instead of wasting time in Dieppe. One could not be any be any closer to the sea than I am, on the shingle itself, and the waves beat at the foot of the house.' (E. Kendall, Monet by Himself, London, 1989, p. 100).
The present work shares a similar cropped composition to Monet's work of the same year, Bateaux de pche au large de Pourville (fig.1), formerly in the collection of Paul Mellon. Monet painted very few pure seascapes, and thus it is no surpise that Barques de pches Pourville was first acquired by the artist Paul Helleu, who shared Monet's love for the sea. Helleu, who had enthusiastically embraced the concept of Impressionism, was an avid follower of Monet's work. The two artists met at the Second Impressionist Exhibition held at Durand-Ruel's gallery in 1876, an encounter which marked the beginning of a lasting professional and personal alliance between the two artists.
Without doubt his favourite site during the 1880s was the Normandy coast; it obviously was in his blood from his childhood in Le Havre and Saint-Addresse and was easily accessible from Vtheuil and later from Giverny where he moved in 1883. Of all the places he visited on the coast, several became his most frequented, notably Pourville where the present work was painted, Varengeville, Etretat, and Dieppe.
Monet arrived in Pourville in mid-February 1882 after taking the train to Dieppe earlier that month in search of new and challenging motifs for his paintings. In a letter to Alice Hoschd from Pourville dated 15 February 1882, he wrote: 'The countryside is very beautiful and I am very sorry I did not come here earlier instead of wasting time in Dieppe. One could not be any be any closer to the sea than I am, on the shingle itself, and the waves beat at the foot of the house.' (E. Kendall, Monet by Himself, London, 1989, p. 100).
The present work shares a similar cropped composition to Monet's work of the same year, Bateaux de pche au large de Pourville (fig.1), formerly in the collection of Paul Mellon. Monet painted very few pure seascapes, and thus it is no surpise that Barques de pches Pourville was first acquired by the artist Paul Helleu, who shared Monet's love for the sea. Helleu, who had enthusiastically embraced the concept of Impressionism, was an avid follower of Monet's work. The two artists met at the Second Impressionist Exhibition held at Durand-Ruel's gallery in 1876, an encounter which marked the beginning of a lasting professional and personal alliance between the two artists.