À propos de l’œuvre
Étretat, la porte d'Aval : bateaux de pêche sortant du port, par Claude Monet
Claude Monet · Étretat · 1885 · W1047
Étretat, the Porte d'Aval, boats leaving port W1047hand painted reproduction
From Étretat beach, Monet watches the caiques go out for herring fishing. Their brown, red and blue sails spread out over a sea of sea green, while the Porte d'Aval and the Aiguille form a dark mass on the left under a misty sky. Painted in 1885, this oil on canvas measuring 60 × 81 cm is kept at the Museum of Fine Arts in Dijon under number 2961 and corresponds to Wildenstein 1047.
Look at the work
The boats leave the curve of the beach and transform the vast body of water into a trajectory out to sea
The beach enters from the lower left corner and leads towards the cliff. The first boats are close, with legible hulls and colored sails; the following become small dark signs scattered to the right. This progressive reduction gives the exit from the port its collective movement.
The Aval cliff extends horizontally then ends with the arch and the Needle. Monet blends his grays, blues and greens into the humid sky, without a clear geological outline. Conversely, the reflections under the sails are short vertical touches which make the chop and locate each boat.
The natural monument remains motionless, but the succession of caiques and their reflections makes the sea a space covered, almost measurable.
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.
A departure actually observed in the fall of 1885
The museum cites a letter dated October 30 in which Monet recounts seeing all the big boats go fishing together and wanting to resume this show daily. W1047 was born from this direct observation.
Caiques inherited from local tradition
These sturdy sailboats were launched from the pebble beach. Their dark silhouettes and triangular sails provide Monet with a series of simple shapes that stand out against the clear water.
Morning light without theatrical contrast
The sea and the sky share very close blue-gray colors. The cliff remains dense but not black, while the red and brown sails bring the rare warm accents of this version.
Reference image
Read this specific version
The single image reproduces version 2961 photographed for the Museum of Fine Arts in Dijon. Its file of 2,837 × 2,064 px is encoded in real WebP at its native definition.
Maintain the exact dispersion of boats
Nearby boats must form a group without becoming a regular line. The most distant ones extend the trajectory to the right and give the scale of the bay.
Preserve the turquoise green of the sea
It separates the sails from the cliff and receives blue, red and black reflections. Water that is too gray would remove the sea shine; too saturated, it would contradict the foggy sky.
Keeping the melted cliff in the atmosphere
Its strata remain perceptible by variations of gray-green and purple. Too precise a drawing would cause the humidity of the air and the continuity between rock and clouds to lose.
Documented benchmarks
Three pieces of information specific to this work
Dijon Musées documents Étretat, the Porte d'Aval: fishing boats leaving the port, oil on canvas from 1885, 60 × 81 cm, inventory 2961 and Wildenstein catalog 1047.
Monet returned to Étretat from 1883 to 1887
He abandons the villas and the casino for the cliffs, the fishing village, the tides and the variations of light. This painting precisely associates the monumental site with local activity.
The departure of the caiques for herring fishing
The museum identifies traditional boats and the timing of the launch. Already established sails show a flotilla moving away rather than just anchoring near the beach.
Entrance to the museum by the Robin legacy in 1930
The painting bears the number 2961 and is presented in the permanent tour of the Museum of Fine Arts of Dijon, room 39.
Your reproduction
What the painter must preserve
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
- The Wildenstein 1047 version
- The Aval Gate and the Needle on the left
- Caicos of decreasing sizes towards the open sea
- Short reflections under red and brown veils
Work sheet
| Title | Étretat, the Porte d'Aval, boats leaving port W1047 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1885 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 60 × 81 cm |
| Orientation | Horizontal |
| Conservation | Museum of Fine Arts of Dijon, Dijon, France |
| Inventory | 2961 · Wildenstein 1047 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
A palette designed with the room
This horizontal navy is suitable above a sofa, sideboard or in an office. A gray blue, sea green or light sand wall and an oak or walnut frame highlight the flotilla without weighing down the cliff.
