À propos de l’œuvre
Falaise et Porte d'Aval par gros temps, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · Étretat · 1883 · W820
Cliff and Downstream Gate in bad weather W820hand painted reproduction
The sea breaks into white waves against the Falaise d'Aval and its arch, under a cold sky almost entirely overcast. Painted in Étretat in 1883, this oil on canvas measuring 73 × 100 cm is kept at the Museu de Montserrat in Catalonia and corresponds to Wildenstein 820.
Look at the work
The wave and the cliff confront each other in the same movement of matter
The cliff occupies the entire left side and advances to the center through the Downstream Gate. The narrow arch opens a clear slit into the rock mass. In front of it, successive waves fill the foreground without leaving a stable beach.
Water green, blue, cream and gray mingle in thick curves. The cliff receives pinks, browns and purples which prevent it from becoming a uniform silhouette. The clear but overcast sky diffuses light throughout the scene.
In W820, the sea does not reflect the sky: it occupies space with its ridges, hollows and swirls, until making the wave a second monument facing the Downstream Gate.
Composition, touch and light
What Monet builds behind the impression of snapshot
Three precise elements allow us to understand this composition and the essential difficulties of faithful reproduction.
An arch compressed by framing
The Downstream Gate is not seen from afar as an isolated emblem. The cliff fills the left edge and accentuates the narrowness of the opening above the water.
A first plan without rest
The waves follow one another to the lower edge with curved and oblique movements. No smooth plane slows down the feeling of bad weather.
Matter as a description of climate
The clear impasto of the ridges stands out against the deeper greens and blues. The direction of the brush simultaneously reflects volume, speed and light.
Reference image
Read this specific version
Only one exact image of W820 is used. The real WebP measures 800 × 574 px, kept at the public resolution available without artificial enlargement.
Preserve the exact square of the arch
The opening should remain close to the center and relatively narrow. Enlarging it would give a calmer picturesque view than this storm composition.
Keep the greens in the sea
The palette combines olive green, turquoise, blue and cream. An entirely blue sea would cause the mineral density and bad weather effect to be lost.
Vary the shape of the ridges
Whites do not make up regular bands. They appear in clusters, curves and frictions which follow waves of different sizes.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
The Museu de Montserrat preserves Falaise and Porte d'Aval in bad weather, oil on canvas from 1883, 73 × 100 cm and Wildenstein 820.
The Porte d'Aval in Étretat
The natural arch is located southwest of the beach. Its profile, associated with the neighboring Aiguille, becomes one of the major motifs of Monet's Normandy countryside.
About twenty views during the winter of 1883
Monet spent part of February in Étretat and worked in several states of sea and light. Bad weather allows him to study a landscape transformed by movement.
The Wildenstein 820 canvas by Montserrat
The format of 73 × 100 cm and the presence of the Porte d'Aval under rough seas distinguish this work from views W821 to W827 painted in the same countryside.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- The Wildenstein 820 version
- The Falaise d'Aval which closes the left side
- The narrow opening of the Gate above the sea
- The green and white waves that fill the foreground
Work sheet
| Title | Cliff and Downstream Gate in bad weather W820 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1883 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 73 × 100 cm |
| Orientation | Horizontal |
| Conservation | Museu de Montserrat, Montserrat, Catalonia, Spain |
| Inventory | Wildenstein 820 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
This dynamic navy is suitable for a living room, office or seaside home. A stone gray, sage green or warm white wall and dark wood accompany its tones without weakening the foam.
