A dive imposed by bad weather
The Art Institute reports that Monet painted this canvas from his room at the Blanquet Hotel on a rainy day in November 1885. The high view explains the stacking of plans and the low space given to the sky.
Canvas reproduction
The format automatically adapts to the original artwork.
Oil painting on rolled canvas, unframed. Custom size available on request.
Explore the subjects and styles associated with this reproduction.
Artwork description
Claude Monet · Étretat · November 1885 · W1025
From a window of the Blanquet hotel, Monet looks at Étretat beach in the rain: the black caloges in the foreground, the fishermen gathered at the water's edge and the sailboats already gone organize a bird's eye view of astonishing activity. Painted in 1885, this 73.5 × 93.5 cm oil on canvas is kept at the Art Institute of Chicago under number 1922.428 and corresponds to Wildenstein 1025.

Look at the work
Four large dark shapes occupy the bottom of the canvas: boats removed from service, covered with tarmac boards and used as storage shelters. Their triangular volumes and their vanishing lines lead the gaze to the groups of fishermen massed on the pebbles.
Beyond this land area, the sea suddenly opens turquoise green. Red, brown and purple sails run up to the horizon; on the right, a light house and its green shutter close the composition like the edge of a window.
Monet transforms a work scene observed from his room into spectacular depth: the gaze descends towards the beach, crosses the crowd then joins the boats which reach the open sea.
Composition, touch and light
Three precise elements allow us to understand this composition and the essential difficulties of faithful reproduction.
The Art Institute reports that Monet painted this canvas from his room at the Blanquet Hotel on a rainy day in November 1885. The high view explains the stacking of plans and the low space given to the sky.
Covered shells are not just picturesque accessories. Their dark walls, their oblique edges and the boards placed between them construct the entire geometric base of the image.
The bright greens of the water contrast with the browns of the beach. The boats become colorful accents of decreasing sizes, making both their movement and distance felt.
Reference image
The only image is the Art Institute of Chicago CC0 reference file, kept at 3000 × 2380 px and then encoded as a real WebP. It shows exactly version 1922.428, without artificial enlargement.
The caloges must remain large and partially cut by the edges. Reducing them to better show the beach would weaken W1025's singular point of view.
Light does not come from a visible sky but from the sea and wet surfaces. The bluish greens must therefore remain light compared to the browns, blacks and mauves in the foreground.
The crowd is readable without individualized portraits. A few verticals, hats and colors are enough to evoke the activity; too precise a drawing would freeze the scene.
Documented benchmarks
The Art Institute of Chicago documents The Departure of the Boats, Étretat, oil on canvas from 1885, 73.5 × 93.5 cm, inventory 1922.428 and catalog Wildenstein 1025.
The painter explains to Alice Hoschedé that after working on the caloges in the rain, he tried from his room to paint the boats leaving.
The two paintings share the same observation post, a palette of blues, pinks, purples and greens, as well as the same soggy surfaces observed from the hotel.
Durand-Ruel bought the painting from Monet then sold it the same day to the Chicago collector. The Palmer family donated it to the Art Institute in 1922.
Your reproduction
Fidelity here depends on precise relationships between light, touch, depth and color temperature.
| Title | The Departure of the Boats, Étretat W1025 |
|---|---|
| Artist | Claude Monet (1840 -1926) |
| Date | 1885 |
| Original technique | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 73.5 × 93.5 cm |
| Orientation | Horizontal |
| Conservation | Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, United States |
| Inventory | 1922.428 · Wildenstein 1025 |
| Your reproduction | Handmade oil painting on canvas |
Presentation in your interior
This horizontal and highly constructed composition is suitable for a living room, dining room or office. A sea green, pinkish beige or slate gray wall and a walnut frame highlight the contrast between the dark beach and the bright sea.
Custom order
A simple and reassuring process, from selecting the size to the tracked delivery of your canvas.
Select the desired size before ordering.
Your reproduction is hand-painted entirely in oil.
We send you a photo to validate the result before shipping.
You receive your canvas rolled, protected, and shipped with tracking.
Same artist
Continuez avec des œuvres connues du même artiste, sélectionnées pour comparer les sujets, les formats et les ambiances sans mélanger avec les styles génériques.