Description
Claude Monet painted this sun-soaked scene of the cliffs of Amont in Étretat on the northern coast of France in saturated tones of blue, orange, and pink. Étretat was a popular tourist destination, but Monet decided to travel there with his family during the town’s offseason, in the fall and winter of 1885. Instead of bustling with travelers, as it would have been during the summer months, the beach appears desolate aside from a small grouping of local fishing boats gathered at the shore.
This is one of thirty-five works that comprise the Winterbotham Collection. Click here to learn more about the collection.
Provenance
Bongniat et Cie [per Wildenstein 1996]. Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, by Aug. 1, 1912 [this and the three following per Durand-Ruel, Paris, stock book for 1913 (no. 10089, as Falaises à Etretat, 1876), as confirmed by Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel and Flavie Durand-Ruel, Durand-Ruel Archives, to the Art Institute of Chicago, Oct. 5, 2010, curatorial object file]; half-share to Durand-Ruel, Paris, Aug. 1, 1912, for 3,500 francs; remaining half-share sold to Durand-Ruel, Paris, Jan. 13, 1916; sent to Durand-Ruel, New York, Feb. 1916; sold to Chester Johnson, Chicago, June 29, 1929 [per Durand-Ruel, New York, stock book for 1929 (no. 3926, as Falaises à Etretat), as confirmed by Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel and Flavie Durand-Ruel, Durand-Ruel Archives, to the Art Institute of Chicago, Oct. 5, 2010, curatorial object file]. Mrs. Anne R. Winterbotham, Chicago, by 1964; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1964 (died 1970), who retained a life interest in the painting. In 1973, it became a part of the Art Institute’s Joseph Winterbotham Collection; see Lyn DelliQuadri, “A Living Tradition: The Winterbothams and Their Legacy,” in “The Joseph Winterbotham Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago,” special issue, Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 20, 2 (1994), p. 109.
