Boats on the beach at Etretat

Monet came to Etretat, on the chalk coast of Normandy, in the winter of 1883, the year he settled at Giverny, and he would return two winters later. What first pulls anyone to this stretch of coast is the scenery, the great natural arch and the freestanding needle of rock that Courbet and others had painted before him. But Monet kept his attention lower down, on the working beach, the heavy fishing boats drawn up on the shingle, dark hulls and tackle, the town's livelihood pulled clear of the tide. He was painting in the cold months on purpose, when the light is bare and the summer crowds are gone. The boats here sit high on the stones, hauled up out of the water.