# Rough Sea at Étretat [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [MONET, Claude]() - Date: 1851-1900 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 81 x 100 cm ## Commentary Étretat, a Norman fishing village popular among artists of Courbet's generation and, later, the Impressionists. Its great cliffs, rising so precipitously from the beach and from the waters provided a striking contrast to sand-bound or storm-tossed boats below, and with the ever-changing sea and sky. One of the main features is a rock formation known as Porte d'Aval \(or Aiouille\), where a natural flying buttress appears to support an equally natural, crenellated tower. This sense of implicit architecture suggests a great city lost in primeval times. There are two other formations called Porte d'Amont, and the Manneporte. The cliffs at Étretat inspired Monet, who was a frequent visitor to the Normandy coast from the 1860s onward. ## Related artworks - [A Cart on the Snowy Road at Honfleur]() - [A Corner of the Hoschedé Garden at Montgeron]() - [A Field of Poppies]() - [Argenteuil]() - [Beach at Sainte-Adresse]() - [Boats on the Beach at Étretat]() - [Bordighera]() - [Boulevard des Capucines]() - [Boulevard Saint-Denis, Argenteuil, in Winter]() - [Bouquet of Flowers]() - [Bouquet of Sunflowers]() - [Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()