Claude
Monet
Nympheas The Terrace At Sainte-Addressee 1867
Cincinnati Art Museum Exhibit
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
France
Rocks at Belle-Isle, Port-Domois, 1886
Oil on canvas
32 x 25 1/2 in. (81.3 x 64.8 cm)
Fanny Bryce Lehmer Endowment and
The Edwin and Virginia Irwin Memorial, 1985.282
Impressionist Claude Monet is usually associated with dappled, sun-drenched, richly atmospheric landscapes. Yet in autumn 1886, Monet sought out the rugged and barren terrain on the island of Belle-Isle-en-Mer off the coast of Brittany. Centering his activity in the village of Kervilhouven on the Atlantic side of the island, he wrote to fellow impressionist Gustave Caillebotte, "I've been here a month, and I'm grinding away; I'm in a magnificent region of wilderness, a tremendous heap of rocks and sea unbelievable for its colors; well, I'm very enthusiastic." Monet said he was having trouble painting the wild ocean because he was used to painting the calm channel.
In Rocks at Belle-Isle, Port-Domois, Monet depicted the grim sea beating away at the barren rocks, a theme he repeated and varied numerous times. He was sensitive both to the geographic change and to the need to change his manner of looking. He wrote to his companion Alice Hoschedé, whom he married in 1892, "I must make great efforts to make them somber, to render this sinister, tragic aspect." He added that he felt "powerless to render the intensity" of the ocean crashing upon the rocky sentinels of the island. Yet he also placed great demands on himself, saying "I'm chasing the merest sliver of color. It's my own fault, I want to grasp the intangible." The rich colors, strong forms, and subtle atmosphere of this magnificent painting demonstrate that he was concerned as much with emotion as with visual accuracy.
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