Bahía de Moulin Huet, Guernsey

In the autumn of 1883 Renoir spent about six weeks on Guernsey, in the Channel Islands, and painted this view across Moulin Huet Bay with its cliffs and clear turquoise water. He had reached a turning point. After a decade of full Impressionism he had begun to doubt it, and was pulling back toward older habits, quick oil sketches made outdoors and worked up later in the studio. This is one of those rapid sketches. The bathers are only a few strokes each, and the foam on the waves is dabbed and flicked in. He made 15 pictures on the island in those weeks. The rocks out in the bay are real landmarks, still known locally as the Tas de Pois and Cradle Rock.