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A scene of hollowed out cliffs over water.

Looking out over water, the view of the sea is interrupted by the lower portion of some cliffs which have been shaped by tides over time. The tides have also carved a gap into the jutting cliff so that the rocky outcroppings and water beyond can be seen. The viewer seems to be standing on the beach, as the water is lighter in color and interrupted by many low rocks in the foreground. The entire area visible consists of shallow water and low rock outcroppings which look like small islands.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1957.163
People
Claude Monet, French (Paris, France 1840 - 1926 Giverny, France)
Title
La Porte d'Amont, Étretat
Other Titles
Former Title: Cliff at Etretat
Former Title: Falaise à Étretat
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
c. 1868-1869
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/228507

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
sight: 79.1 x 98.4 cm (31 1/8 x 38 3/4 in.)
framed: 114.6 x 133.7 x 12.7 cm (45 1/8 x 52 5/8 x 5 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: l.l.: Claude Monet
  • inscription: verso, top left, pencil: P. H.
  • label: verso, top right: Monet No. 3838 / Falaises d'Etreat / 1873
  • inscription: verso, top center-right, scratched/incised: ab ut 1019
  • inscription: verso, middle stretcher, inscription: 7857 [underlined twice]
  • inscription: verso, middle stretcher bar: 40 u [encircled]
  • inscription: verso, middle stretcher bar, graphite: Photo / DRNY / 3525
  • label: verso, middle strecher, left: [label for Sam Salz]
  • inscription: verso, middle stretcher, left, in graphite: 722 [underlined twice]
  • label: verso, middle stretcher, left: Monet No. 10526 / Les Falaises d'Etretat / 1873
  • inscription: verso, middle stretcher, left, blue pencil or chalk: 5827
  • inscription: verso, middle stretcher, bottom: 80 / 260
  • inscription: verso, middle stretcher, right, blue pencil or chalk: 15117 [underlined]
  • inscription: verso, middle stretcher, right, blue pencil or chalk: 776 [underlined]
  • inscription: verso, lower center: 5827 [struck through]
  • inscription: verso, right stretcher, blue pencil or chalk: [square and two lines]
  • label: verso, right stretcher, bottom, ink : Clau [illeg.] t
  • inscription: verso, lower right corner, graphite: X
  • stamp: verso, right center margin of canvas: Douane 83 - 4 [or 81-43] [encircled]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Claude Monet, 1868, sold; to [Durand-Ruel, Paris], sold; to Prince de Wagram (Louis-Alexandre Berthier), Paris, sold; to [Durand-Ruel, Paris, April 1914]; to Jean d' Alayer de Costemore d'Arc and Marie-Louise Durand-Ruel (daughter and son-in-law of Joseph Durand-Ruel), Paris, sold; to [Sam Salz,19th & 20th Century French Art, New York] sold; to Joseph Pulitzer Jr., (May 2,1955-1957) gift; to Fogg Art Museum ,1957.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Pulitzer, Jr.
Accession Year
1957
Object Number
1957.163
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Camille Mauclair, Claude Monet, F. Rieder & cie (Paris, France, 1924), repr. pl. 32
  • Léon Werth, Claude Monet, Les Editions G. Crès & Cie. (Paris, France, 1928), repr. pl. 30
  • Charles Scott Chetham, Modern Painting, Drawing & Sculpture: Collected by Louise and Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1957), pp. 65-66, fig. 1, ill. (plate section, b/w)
  • Charles Scott Chetham, "Cliff at Etretat by Claude Monet", Fogg Art Museum Annual Report 1957-1958, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1959), pp. 46-49, repr. p. 47
  • Claude Monet: Seasons and Moments, exh. cat., The Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY, 1960)
  • John Rewald, The History of Impressionism [revised ed.], The Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY, 1961), repr. p. 233
  • Rosamond Bernier, "Une Collection du Middle West", L'oeil (December 1967), no. 156, pp. 30-39, 49; ill. p. 31, no. 3
  • Nina Kasanof, "Monet and Etretat", Bulletin of the North Carolina Museum of Art, North Carolina Museum of Art (Raleigh, NC, May 1968), vol. VII, no. 4, pp. 3-11, repr. p. 5, fig. 2
  • The Joseph and Louise Pulitzer Collection, exh. cat., City Art Museum of St. Louis (St. Louis, MO, 1968)
  • Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet: Biographie et Catalogue Raisonné, La Bibliothèque des Arts (Lausanne, Switzerland, 1974 - 1991), no. 258, p. 224; repr. p. 225
  • Paintings by Monet, exh. cat., The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, IL, 1975)
  • Robert Gordon and Andrew Forge, Monet, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, NY, 1983), repr. in b/w p. 108
  • Caroline A. Jones, Modern Art at Harvard: The Formation of the Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Collections of the Harvard University Art Museums (New York, NY and Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press, 1985). With an essay by John Coolidge and a preface by John M. Rosenfield. To accompany the inaugural exhibition at the Sackler Museum, Oct 21 1985 - Jan 5 1986, repr. in color fig. 7, p. 22
  • John House, Monet: Nature into Art, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT and London, England, 1986), repr. in color fig. 175, p. 142
  • Yvon Taillandier, Monet, Crown Publishers Inc. (New York, NY, 1987), repr. in color p. 48
  • Michael Howard, Monet, Brompton Books, Ltd (London, England, 1989), repr. in color pp. 56-57
  • Edgar Peters Bowron, European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum: A Summary Catalogue including Paintings in the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990), p. 82, color plate; pp. 120, 244, repr. b/w cat. no. 342
  • Claude Monet, Monet by Monet, ed. Rachel Barnes, Webb and Bower (Exeter, England, 1990), repr. in color p. 45
  • Helen Gardner and Horst de la Croix, Gardner's Art Through the Ages, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (San Diego, CA, 1991), repr. in color, 21-68, p. 923
  • Henri Loyrette and Gary Tinterow, Impressionisme: Les Origines 1859-1869, exh. cat., Réunion des Musées Nationaux (Paris, France, 1994), no. 143, p. 434, repr., no. 323, p. 259 and color detail p. 258
  • Robert L. Herbert, Monet on the Normandy Coast, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT and London, England, 1994), pp. 24-26, repr. in color, plate 28, p. 24
  • Gary Tinterow and Henri Loyrette, Origins of Impressionism, exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY, 1994), pp. 258-260, repro. in color fig. 322, p. 258, fig. 323, p.259; p. 437, no. 143.
  • Norio Shimada and Keiko Sakagami, Claude Monet 1858-1880, exh. cat., Toppan Tanc (Japan, 2001), p. 21, repr. in color as pl. 154
  • John Collins, "Monet's 1880s Etretat Campaign: 'Rock Needle' seen through the Porte d'Aval--A Case for His Japonisme", National Gallery of Canada Review / Revue du Musée des Beaux-Arts du Canada (2008), VI, pp. 8-34, pp. 14-15, fig. 5
  • Stephan Wolohojian and Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Harvard Art Museum/ Handbook, ed. Stephan Wolohojian, Harvard Art Museum (Cambridge, 2008), p. 157, repr.
  • Carole McNamara, The Lens of Impressionism: Photography and Painting along the Normandy Coast, 1850-1874, exh. cat., University of Michigan Museum of Art (Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2009), repr. p. 182
  • Ségolène Le Men, Monet, Citadelles & Mazenod (Paris, 2010), p. 241, ill. 196
  • Simon Kelly and April Watson, Impressionist France: Visions of Nation from Le Gray to Monet, exh. cat., Saint Louis Art Museum and Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Saint Louis, Missouri and Kansas City, Missouri, 2013), repr. in color p. 278 as fig. 79; p. 278
  • George T.M. Shackelford, Monet: The Early Years, exh. cat., Kimbell Art Museum (Fort Worth, TX, 2016), cat. no. 27, p 137, repr. p. 136
  • George T.M. Shackelford, Richard Shiff, Anthea Callen, Richard Thomson, and Yale University Press, Monet: The Early Years, exh. cat. (New Haven, 2016), repr. as cat.27 on p.136; p.137

Exhibition History

  • Chefs-D'Oeuvre de l'art Français, Durand-Ruel Paris, Paris, 01/01/1902 - 12/31/1902
  • Monet, Marlborough Gallery, London, London, 01/01/1954 - 12/31/1954
  • Modern Painting Drawing and Sculpture Collected by Louise and Joseph Pulitzer Jr, Knoedler & Co. Inc., New York, 04/09/1957 - 05/04/1957; Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 05/16/1957 - 09/15/1957
  • Claude Monet: Seasons and Moments, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 03/07/1960 - 05/15/1960; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 06/14/1960 - 08/07/1960
  • Works of Art of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Collected by Louise and Joseph Pulitzer Jr., City Art Museum of St. Louis, St. Louis, 01/22/1968 - 03/17/1968
  • Claude Monet, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 03/15/1975 - 05/11/1975
  • Master Paintings from the Fogg Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/13/1977 - 08/31/1977
  • Modern Art at Harvard, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/21/1985 - 01/05/1986
  • Origins of Impressionism, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 09/19/1994 - 01/08/1995
  • Claude Monet: 1840-1926, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 07/14/1995 - 11/26/1995
  • 32Q: 2700 Impressionism, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 10/15/2015
  • Monet: The Early Years, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 02/25/2017 - 05/29/2017

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu