Étretat
In which I uncover the story of Claude Monet's stay in this seaside town, and walk the cliffs that inspired him.
It is beautiful here (in Etretat), my friend; every day I discover even more beautiful things. It is intoxicating me, and I want to paint it all - my head is bursting…I want to fight, scratch it off, start again, because I start to see and understand.
-Claude Monet, 1864
{Étretat, France}
Claude Monet was born in Paris, but grew up in Le Havre, in Normandy, in northern France. He visited the nearby coastal town of Étretat for the first time in 1864. He was 24 years old, and wrote about the town in a letter to his fellow artist, Frédéric Bazille, “It is beautiful here, my friend; every day I discover even more beautiful things.”
A man after my own heart.
He continues, “It is intoxicating me, and I want to paint it all - my head is bursting…”