The Manneport Etretat

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The Manneport Etretat: Claude Monet

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Art Type: Oil Painting
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Claude Monet Oil Painting - The Manneport Etretat

Keywords: Manneport, Etretat

Work Overview: The Manneporte (Étretat), Rock Arch West of Etretat
Claude Monet
Date: 1883
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:25 3/4 x 32 in. (65.4 x 81.3 cm)
Style: Impressionism
Series: The Manneport
Genre: landscape
Lender: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Credit Line: Bequest of William Church Osborn, 1951

Monet's works from the 1880s are painted in a more dynamic manner than his earlier works.

The bold calligraphy of Japanese ink paintings of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries embodies the latent forces within rocks, cliffs and water, as do Monet’s long linear brushstrokes in his paintings of similar subjects on the French coast. In contrast to the monochrome line and wash of ink painting, Monet’s lines are coloured, thick and pastey, and adhere together to form a dense, mobile surface. The rearing cliff in The Manneporte (Etretat) is built up from broad patches of colour covered with line after line of saturated ochres, rusty reds, zigzags and glazes of blue-violet or blue-green. The nature of the brushmarks suggests that they were painted rapidly; they not only embody the dynamic, upward thrust of the motif, but also enact the dynamism of the creative act. Such calligraphy suggests a direct expressive relationship between the marks of the brush and the structure of the motif, the strata and lines of force in cliff face and rock arch, and the weathering by water and wind.

Courbet and many others had painted this motif, but none expressed the sense of the dramatic thrust of the rock from the churning sea. Monet’s composition relates directly to Hiroshige’s The entrance to the cave at Enoshima Island in Sagami Province. In these works the rock arch is cut by the frame, and seems both to plunge into the sea and to thrust upwards, while water surges around the base of the arch and isolated rocks. Both works contain minute figures that indicate the mighty scale of the arch. Even if Monet had thought of the print as a translation of a brush painting, his dynamic linear brushstrokes probably owed more to Japanese painting itself.

Claude Monet painted The Manneporte (Etretat) in 1883. The Manneporte, a huge natural arch that jutted out into the sea on the beach at Etretat, commanded Monet's attention during his stay on the Channel Coast in the early months of 1883.

For this view, Monet positioned his easel facing west to take advantage of the low illumination of the setting sun. The frigid palette and thick brush strokes that describe the motion of the choppy waters evoke the physical discomfort posed by the challenge of plain air painting in winter.

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Centerpieces of the exhibition are two major oil paintings by Claude Monet on loan from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

One of San Diego’s most anticipated art exhibitions of the season opens at Balboa Park’s Timken Museum of Art on September 8 and will be on display through the end of the year. Monet’s Étretat: Destination and Motif will be part of the Timken’s longstanding tradition of presenting intimate, significant exhibitions that focus on a particular theme, artist or work of art. Director of Curatorial Affairs Derrick Cartwright renews this tradition with an exhibition rooted in the artistic allure of coastal Normandy.

At the center of Monet’s Étretat are two major oil paintings by Claude Monet of the quaint fishing village and the surrounding majestic cliffs of Étretat: The Manneporte (Étretat) and The Manneporte near Étretat, painted in 1883 and 1886, respectively, which are on loan from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Born in Paris in 1840, Monet visited this small fishing village on the Normandy coast dozens of times throughout his 86 years and painted it from numerous angles and under varying weather conditions.

“This exhibition celebrates one of Monet’s most enduring subjects – Étretat,” says Director of Curatorial Affairs, Derrick R. Cartwright.

Monet painted 20 views of the beach and the three extraordinary rock formations: Porte d'Aval, Porte d'Amont and Manneporte. As described by the Met: The sunlight that strikes Manneporte has a dematerializing effect that permitted the artist to interpret the cliff almost exclusively in terms of color and luminosity. Most 19th century visitors were attracted to the rock as a natural wonder. Monet instead concentrated on his own changing perception of it at different times of day.

Additional works also on display with Monet’s Étretat: Other artists also explored the site in the 19th century, drawn by guidebooks and other popular writing about the natural wonders of Étretat. To demonstrate this exploration and the productive exchange that developed between French and American artists during this time, Terra Foundation for American Art is loaning two significant American art pieces: The Cliffs at Étretat (1890) by William Henry Lipppincott and Sunset, Étretat (1892) by George Inness. To contextualize the experience, vintage photographs, 19th century promotional materials and period guidebooks from the University of San Diego’s Print Collection will also be on display.

“We are thrilled to give the San Diego community this unique opportunity to celebrate Monet with two exhibitions taking place at the same time in two of Balboa Park’s major art museums - the Timken Museum of Art and The San Diego Museum of Art,” said Megan Pogue, Timken’s executive director. Together the two exhibitions span Monet’s life; the Timken with works in 1883 and 1886 and San Diego Museum of Art’s piece in 1904 demonstrating the extent of Monet’s experiential painting techniques.”

In the ongoing pursuit to provide visitors with a multidimensional experience, the Timken is once again collaborating with the San Diego Symphony to introduce music into the museum’s galleries. Monet’s Étretat is the second exhibition (the first was this past spring’s Witness to War) to include classical music choreographed by Nuvi Mehta, the Symphony’s special projects director. For an even further understanding and appreciation of Claude Monet and Étretat, there will be a video featuring interviews with Derrick Cartwright and Nuvi Mehta played on a continuous loop in the Timken’s rotunda. There will be free daily docent-led tours in six languages, free afternoon and morning gallery talks, docent spotlight talks and teacher workshop and evening lectures.

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Monet spent most of February 1883 at Étretat, a fishing village and resort on the Normandy coast. He painted twenty views of the beach and the three extraordinary rock formations in the area: the Porte d'Aval, the Porte d'Amont, and the Manneporte. The sunlight that strikes the Manneporte has a dematerializing effect that permitted the artist to interpret the cliff almost exclusively in terms of color and luminosity. Most nineteenth century visitors were attracted to the rock as a natural wonder. Monet instead concentrated on his own changing perception of it at different times of day.

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