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拍品專文
When Claude Monet first visited the seaside town of Etretat in 1864, he wrote to his colleague Frédéric Bazille: "every day I am discovering more and more beautiful things" (quoted in V. Russell, Monet's Landscapes, London, 2000, p.12). The most spectacular feature of the famous limestone cliffs at Etretat was a series of three promontories, each pierced with a monumental archway. Two arches were visible from the town itself: the Porte d'Aval to the west, and the subject of the present work, a low portal to the east called the Porte d'Amont (fig.1). Monet returned again in 1868 and 1873, yet as scholar Paul Hayes Tucker has noted, "[Etretat] did not attract his attention in a serious way until the winter of 1883. He worked in the town every year thereafter until 1886. These extended painting trips resulted in more than sixty canvases, which was more than Monet executed of any other single site during the decade" (Claude Monet: Life and Art, New Haven, 1995, p. 114).
In September of 1885, Monet informed his dealer Durand-Ruel, "I've decided to go to the seaside I'll go to Etretat to do a few beautiful marines for you" (V. Russel, op. cit., p. 42). During this three-month sojourn, Monet painted the Porte d'Amont from a much higher perspective than in any of his previous visits, which entailed hiking up the Falaise d'Aval to capture the sweeping view of the entire Falaise d'Amont across the bay. This physical exertion permitted Monet to execute the present painting, one of the promised marines. In these works, Monet eliminated any trace of the town, the fishing boats, and even the maritime chapel that sat atop the cliff further inland. Scholar Robert Herbert has written, "Images of the village would have been incompatible with the kind of picture he was constructing, 'marines.' This had been true of Courbet, for he, too, painted only the cliffs, the bay, and the beach. Both artists wished to avoid the picturesque paintings of seaside villages that had been a staple in the middle third of the century" (Monet on the Normandy Coast, exh. cat., New Haven, 1994, p.81).
Monet's project of painting marines, therefore, took advantage of the dramatic landscape at Etretat but also its artistic pedigree and fame as a site for tourism. Herbert explains: "Because all signs of the resort have been expunged, should we not say that they are irrelevant? No, because if Monet had wished to find a truly lonely coast, he could have done so easily. He instead chose a very famous vacationers' site and therefore established a dialogue with foreknowledge. The meaning of the picture is none other than the ideal traveler's experience: a famous place, seen in a new light. Instead of the customary view from the beach, Monet constructed one that seems to involve the viewer in the experience of climbing up the cliff, alone. He and the viewer define their moment of ecstasy by detaching themselves from the crowd for a seemingly unique moment before untouched nature" (ibid., pp. 111-112).
(fig. 1) Etretat, the beach and the Porte d'Amont, 1888. BARCODE 24758253
In September of 1885, Monet informed his dealer Durand-Ruel, "I've decided to go to the seaside I'll go to Etretat to do a few beautiful marines for you" (V. Russel, op. cit., p. 42). During this three-month sojourn, Monet painted the Porte d'Amont from a much higher perspective than in any of his previous visits, which entailed hiking up the Falaise d'Aval to capture the sweeping view of the entire Falaise d'Amont across the bay. This physical exertion permitted Monet to execute the present painting, one of the promised marines. In these works, Monet eliminated any trace of the town, the fishing boats, and even the maritime chapel that sat atop the cliff further inland. Scholar Robert Herbert has written, "Images of the village would have been incompatible with the kind of picture he was constructing, 'marines.' This had been true of Courbet, for he, too, painted only the cliffs, the bay, and the beach. Both artists wished to avoid the picturesque paintings of seaside villages that had been a staple in the middle third of the century" (Monet on the Normandy Coast, exh. cat., New Haven, 1994, p.81).
Monet's project of painting marines, therefore, took advantage of the dramatic landscape at Etretat but also its artistic pedigree and fame as a site for tourism. Herbert explains: "Because all signs of the resort have been expunged, should we not say that they are irrelevant? No, because if Monet had wished to find a truly lonely coast, he could have done so easily. He instead chose a very famous vacationers' site and therefore established a dialogue with foreknowledge. The meaning of the picture is none other than the ideal traveler's experience: a famous place, seen in a new light. Instead of the customary view from the beach, Monet constructed one that seems to involve the viewer in the experience of climbing up the cliff, alone. He and the viewer define their moment of ecstasy by detaching themselves from the crowd for a seemingly unique moment before untouched nature" (ibid., pp. 111-112).
(fig. 1) Etretat, the beach and the Porte d'Amont, 1888. BARCODE 24758253