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Artists at Sea: Monet in Normandy

After writing a 1,000 word piece about Winslow Homer's eighteen month stay at an English fishing village, I'm writing a series of primers about other artists who made similar journeys.

Claude Monet, Regates a Saint-Adresse, 1867

Who

Claude Monet, French Impressionist painter

Coastal association

Normandy, France.

Reasons for visiting

Monet spent his childhood in Le Havre, Normandy.

Dates visited

Almost his entire life from 1840 to 1926.

First visit

1845, aged 5, when his family moved to Le Havre. As an adult, after working and gaining some success in Paris, he spent the summer of 1867 painting in Sainte-Adresse, near Le Havre.

Effect on Work

His earliest plein air paintings were made near Le Havre when Monet was 16, under the guidance of Eugene Boudin. Ten years later, Monet's time at Sainte Adresse moved his work away from 'salon' style subjects of bourgeois life to a deeper consideration of how to use pure colour to capture the light on objects.

Rating

8 sea points out of 10.

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