Context and Inspiration

Monet traveled to Normandy in February 1882, seeking escape from personal and professional pressures. His wife, Camille, had died three years earlier, and he was in a domestic arrangement with Alice Hoschedé, whom he would later marry in 1892 after her husband's death. France was experiencing an economic recession that affected Monet's art sales, and he was also disillusioned with the upcoming seventh Impressionist exhibition due to internal divisions within the group.

Location and Period

Monet settled in the fishing village of Pourville, finding it more to his liking than the urban area around Dieppe. He stayed there until mid-April and returned in June with Alice Hoschedé and her children. During his stay, he wrote enthusiastically about the beauty of the countryside.

Composition and Technique

The painting features two young women, likely Marthe and Blanche, the eldest daughters of Alice Hoschedé, walking on a cliff overlooking the sea. Monet integrated the figures into the landscape using texture and color, ensuring the unity of the painterly surface. The grass, painted with short, brisk, curved brushstrokes, appears to quiver in the breeze, and similar strokes and hues are used to depict the women's wind-whipped dresses and shawls, as well as the undulation of the sea.

Modifications and Details

X-radiographs reveal that Monet reduced the size of a rocky outcropping at the far right to balance the proportions of sea and sky. Additionally, an X-ray shows that Monet originally painted a third figure into the grouping but later removed it.

Current Location

Cliff Walk at Pourville is housed at the Art Institute of Chicago, as part of the Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection.

Medium and Dimensions

The painting is an oil on canvas work, measuring 66.5 × 82.3 cm (26 1/8 × 32 7/16 in.) and is framed to 88.9 × 104.8 × 10.8 cm (35 × 41 1/4 × 4 1/4 in.)