As I walked barefoot on the pebble beach it gave me the feeling of having a foot massage. I had always dreamed of seeing the scenes Claude Monet portrayed on the canvases with my own eyes. The natural beauty itself is one reason. Normandy was one of the ideal areas to pursue my impressionistic dream. Besides building his final home in Giverny, Monet painted in a number of locations in Normandy. The chalky north coast of Normandy captures the heart of every visitor at first sight.
Years of seawater erosion and weathering have sculpted the coastline on both the west and east sides of the beach, leaving behind towering white cliffs and protruding headlands pierced by arches of various sizes. The arch and the meter-high pillar seem to be linked viewed from the beach. Monet painted the scene many times at different hours of the day.
The Cliff, Etretat, Sunset of is my favorite. Monet created a symphony of colors in the sea—a stroke of red next to a bright green; a dash of orange on top of a slash of blue; a light yellow nestled next to gray-violet.
As I contemplated the rhythmic and yet subtle movements of the water, I could not help but smile. Did Monet not reproduce them on the canvas as well? Only until I stayed closer to the cliff could I uncover the true picture of the well-known seascape. As for the cliffs, they are like nowhere else. Yesterday, I climbed down to a spot where I had never ventured to go before and saw wonderful things there so I very quickly went back to get my canvases. In the end, I am very happy. Against the backdrop of a clear blue sky, the white chalky layers of the cliffs glowed under the sun.
Monet painted the same motif from the beach below us as well. Bathed in the mellow evening light during low tide, the pillar and the arch in the painting hardly appear overwhelming although they still look gigantic compared with the tiny boats between them. While the view before me was imposing, the painting impressed me with its serenity.
