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Lot Essay
In mid-September 1886, having collected an advance of 3000 francs from his dealer Durand-Ruel and eager to find new and unfamiliar landscapes to paint, Monet traveled to Belle-Île, a rocky, storm-swept island off the coast of Brittany. The terrain at Belle-Île was the wildest that the painter had thus far encountered. The shoreline consisted of a sheered-off mass of volcanic black rock that dropped precipitously to the swirling surf, punctuated by fantastic rock formations that had been left behind when sections of the island collapsed into the water. Monet found lodging at Kervilahouen, a village of about twelve dwellings on the west side of the island, near a stretch of coastline known as "La Mer Terrible". "It's well-named," Monet wrote to Alice Hoschedé. "Not a tree for ten kilometers, some rocks and wonderful grottoes; it's sinister, diabolical, but superb" (quoted in P. Tucker, Claude Monet: Life and Art, New Haven, 1995, p. 129). Painting in this locale proved to be an extraordinary challenge. Monet hired an ex-lobsterman as a porter, who fashioned a waterproof slicker to protect the artist from the elements and helped him to lash down his canvas, easel, and protective parasol against overpowering winds. Despite such adverse conditions, Monet was captivated by the natural drama of Belle-Île, writing to Alice, "It was a joy for me to see the sea in all its fury; it was like a drug, and I was so carried away that today I was devastated to see the weather calm down so quickly" (quoted in V. Russell, Monet's Landscapes, London, 2000, p. 68). Although he originally intended to stay on Belle-Île for only a fortnight, he ended up extending his trip until the end of November and bringing back to Giverny nearly forty canvases.
The present painting depicts La Roche Guibel, a pierced rock in the center of the bay of Port-Domois on Belle-Île. The critic Gustave Geffroy, who visited the island at the same time as Monet, described the site: "In the middle of the port, a rock riddled with holes, curved into an arch, a narrow space filled with sea spray and the violent anger of the water" (quoted in D. Wildenstein, op. cit., 1996, p. 419). Monet painted eight views of La Roche Guibel, from different angles and under different weather conditions. Five of these show the rock looking north, with Port-Goulphar and the rocks of Radenec in the background (Wildenstein, nos. 1106-1110); the present painting depicts the rock from the opposite direction, looking south toward Port-Domois. The final two canvases in the group portray the view westward out to sea, with the hollow of the rock largely obscured (Wildenstein, nos. 1111-1112). La Roche Guibel was one of several motifs on Belle-Île that Monet subjected to this sort of systematic study, anticipating the serial practice that would become his hallmark in the next decade. Paul Tucker has explained, "His campaign in Brittany... marked a subtle change in Monet's orientation... The paintings explore a relatively limited number of motifs and do so with an equally restricted number of compositional options. While these limitations resulted in pictures that are near replicas... they also appear to have forced him to be even more exacting in his description of natural phenomena--the action of the sea, the way the light danced upon the water, or the interplay of shadows and reflections cast by the craggy black rocks" (Monet in the '90s: The Series Paintings, exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1989, p. 29).
Following his return to Giverny in late November 1886, Monet spent the remainder of the winter completing the views of Belle-Île in his studio. In May 1887, he exhibited ten canvases from the campaign at the Sixth Annual International Exhibition at the Galerie Georges Petit. Nearly every one of his paintings in the show was sold on the spot, and the reviews were more enthusiastic than any Monet had ever received. Joris-Karl Huysmans called Monet "the most significant landscape painter of modern times," while Alfred de Lostalot proclaimed, "You have to admire these feverish canvases, for despite their intense color and rough touch, they are so perfectly disciplined that they easily emit a feeling for nature in an impression filled with grandeur" (quoted in ibid., pp. 29-30).
The present painting depicts La Roche Guibel, a pierced rock in the center of the bay of Port-Domois on Belle-Île. The critic Gustave Geffroy, who visited the island at the same time as Monet, described the site: "In the middle of the port, a rock riddled with holes, curved into an arch, a narrow space filled with sea spray and the violent anger of the water" (quoted in D. Wildenstein, op. cit., 1996, p. 419). Monet painted eight views of La Roche Guibel, from different angles and under different weather conditions. Five of these show the rock looking north, with Port-Goulphar and the rocks of Radenec in the background (Wildenstein, nos. 1106-1110); the present painting depicts the rock from the opposite direction, looking south toward Port-Domois. The final two canvases in the group portray the view westward out to sea, with the hollow of the rock largely obscured (Wildenstein, nos. 1111-1112). La Roche Guibel was one of several motifs on Belle-Île that Monet subjected to this sort of systematic study, anticipating the serial practice that would become his hallmark in the next decade. Paul Tucker has explained, "His campaign in Brittany... marked a subtle change in Monet's orientation... The paintings explore a relatively limited number of motifs and do so with an equally restricted number of compositional options. While these limitations resulted in pictures that are near replicas... they also appear to have forced him to be even more exacting in his description of natural phenomena--the action of the sea, the way the light danced upon the water, or the interplay of shadows and reflections cast by the craggy black rocks" (Monet in the '90s: The Series Paintings, exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1989, p. 29).
Following his return to Giverny in late November 1886, Monet spent the remainder of the winter completing the views of Belle-Île in his studio. In May 1887, he exhibited ten canvases from the campaign at the Sixth Annual International Exhibition at the Galerie Georges Petit. Nearly every one of his paintings in the show was sold on the spot, and the reviews were more enthusiastic than any Monet had ever received. Joris-Karl Huysmans called Monet "the most significant landscape painter of modern times," while Alfred de Lostalot proclaimed, "You have to admire these feverish canvases, for despite their intense color and rough touch, they are so perfectly disciplined that they easily emit a feeling for nature in an impression filled with grandeur" (quoted in ibid., pp. 29-30).