![Claude Monet - The Manneporte (Étretat) [1883]](http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2913/14584735042_298d6f48f9_o.jpg)
Monet spent most of February 1883 at Étretat, a fishing village and resort on the Normandy coast. He painted eighteen views of the beach and the three extraordinary rock formations in the area: the Porte d'Aval, the Porte d'Amont, and the Manneporte.
The sunlight that strikes the Manneporte has a dematerialising effect that permitted the artist to interpret the cliff almost exclusively in terms of colour and luminosity. Most nineteenth century visitors were attracted to the rock as a natural wonder. Monet instead concentrated on his own changing perception of it at different times of day.
[Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York - Oil on canvas, 65.4 x 81.3 cm]