Free shipping on orders over $60$5 flat rate under $604 items: 10% off · 8 items: 20% off
You save $58.47
Free shipping over $60 · 30-day returns · Dispatched in 1–2 business days
The Cliff Walk, Pourville - Claude Monet - Oil Painting Wall Decor suits both traditional and modern interiors. As a seascape oil painting, it works as a standalone focal point or as part of a dining room gallery wall, and unlike a print it is genuinely hand painted in oils.
1882
Oil on canvas
26 1/8"x 32 7/16"
The Art Institute of Chicago, United States.
The Cliff Walk at Pourville is an 1882 painting by the French Impressionist painter Claude Monet. It currently resides at the Art Institute of Chicago. It is a landscape painting featuring two women atop a cliff above the sea.
The canvas was inspired by an extended stay at Pourville in 1882. Monet settled in the village between February and mid-April, during which time he wrote to his future wife, Alice Hoschedé, "How beautiful the countryside is becoming, and what joy it would be for me to show you all its delightful nooks and crannies!" They returned in June of that year. The two young women standing atop the cliff may be Hoschedé's daughters, Marthe and Blanche; it has also been suggested that the figures represent Alice and Blanche, both of whom painted out of doors at that time.
The various elements of the painting are unified through brushwork; short, crisp strokes were used to paint the grasses of the cliff, the women's drapery and the distant sea. A sense of movement suggested by painterly calligraphy was a property of Monet's work in the 1880s, and is here used to connote the effect of a summer wind upon figures, land, water, and clouds moving across the sky. During the painting process, Monet reduced the size of a rocky promontory at far right, to better balance the composition's proportions; however, it's also been noted that this secondary cliff was a late addition to the canvas, and was not part of the original design. An X-ray of the painting indicates that the artist originally painted a third figure into the grouping, then removed it.
Describing similar works by the artist, art historian John House wrote, “His cliff tops rarely show a single sweep of terrain. Instead there are breaks in space; the eye progresses into depth by a succession of jumps; distance is expressed by planes overlapping each other and by atmospheric rather than linear perspective- by softening the focus and changes of color.” The sense of immediacy is heightened by the juxtapositions of the cliff and sea, the contrast between ground and openness.
As dining room wall art, the piece pairs naturally with other impressionist wall art and with warm neutrals, timber, and soft natural light.
From primer to varnish, the work is done manually on artist-grade canvas. The absence of digital printing is deliberate: it keeps the seascape brushwork visible and gives the impressionist oil painting wall decor a museum-like finish.
As dining room wall art, this canvas brings color and texture without visual noise. It scales well from a small study to a large dining room feature wall, and it is a reliable choice when shopping for seascape oil painting as a gift.
| Size | Price |
|---|---|
| 20 X 24 in | $58.48 |
| 24 X 36 in | $91.98 |
| 30 X 40 in | $123.48 |
| 36 X 48 in | $176.98 |
| 48 X 72 in | $329.48 |
The sizes shown are the reproduction canvas sizes we paint to order. The dimensions given in a work's description refer to the original artwork and will differ from the sizes offered here. Not sure? Read the size guide or e-mail us.
Free on orders over $60; a flat $5 below that. Dispatched in 1–2 business days; 30 days to send it back. Full policy.
Every canvas is painted by hand in oils on artist-grade stretched canvas, with an extra blank border left for framing. How to care for your painting.
Measurements are on the size guide, or e-mail [email protected] and we reply within one business day.
