Monet on the Normandy Coast
The Discovery of Étretat

Étretat played an important role in the emergence of a new style of painting that went down in art history as Impressionism. The artists were particularly interested in the distinctive cliff landscape, which they found both excitingly beautiful and threatening. Painters and writers travelled to Étretat, and it was through their works that this remote place became famous beyond France’s borders. 

Following an increase in tourism around 1850, Étretat developed into a popular seaside resort and meeting place for artists, intellectuals and the Parisian bourgeoisie. Gustave Courbet painted his famous wave pictures here; Guy de Maupassant elevated Étretat to a place of longing in his writing. The aspiring painter Claude Monet was also fascinated by the unique cliffs and their three rock arches – the Porte d’Amont, the Porte d’Aval and the Manneporte. Impressed by the ever-changing light and weather conditions, Monet began painting series of motifs in Étretat for the first time, a working method that would later become his trademark.

Étretat has been a popular holiday destination for international tourists for over 150 years. However, the influx of people poses as much of a threat to the cliffs as erosion and climate change. Examining the myth of Étretat thus also makes it possible to understand, as if under a magnifying glass, the ambivalent effects of the popularisation of a place and the role that art plays in this. 

Curators
Alexander Eiling (Head of Modern Art, Städel Museum)
Eva Mongi-Vollmer (Curator for Special Projects, Städel Museum)
Stéphane Paccoud (Chief Curator of 19th-Century Paintings and Sculptures, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon)
Isolde Pludermacher (General Curator of Paintings, Musée d’Orsay, Paris)

Project Manager
Eva-Maria Höllerer (Curator, Städel Museum)
Nelly Janotka (Assistant Curator, Städel Museum)