The Walk – Monet

The Walk – Monet, 1882

In the early part of 1882, the renowned French painter trekked west to Normandy, France to embark on one of his numerous expeditions. This journey was a way of escaping the professional and personal pressures he faced at the time, especially due to the death of his partner, Camille, three years prior. His homeland, France, was also in the midst of a tumultuous period which greatly affected Monet’s sales. Disappointed with the overly urban surroundings of the four-port city of Dieppe, Monet relocated to Pourville, a small fishing village where he would reside for the rest of the year. He fell deeply in love with his surroundings.

The two young ladies depicted in his painting “The Walk – Monet” strolling along the Cliff Walk at Pourville are likely Marthe and Blanche, the eldest daughters of Ernest Hoschedé, a respected art critic. In this composition, Monet explores the incorporation of figures into a landscape without disrupting the cohesion of his pictorial surface. He achieves this by weaving these elements into the piece through texture and color. The turf, rendered with short, brisk and curved brush strokes, appears to quiver in the breeze. X-rays of the work reveal that Monet toned down the rocky outcrop on the extreme right to balance the proportions of the sea and sky.

Category: Monet’s Paintings

Original format: 66.5 x 82.3 cm
© The Art Institute of Chicago