The coastal town of Étretat has become a myth—and continues to fascinate to this day. Its cliffs, located in Normandy on the Atlantic coast, captivated numerous artists in the 19th century. Claude Monet was so fascinated by their unique shapes and the three natural rock arches that he painted them several times. The Städel Museum presents a major exhibition dedicated to the artistic discovery of the former fishing village of Étretat and its influence on modern painting.

Around 170 exceptional paintings, drawings, photographs, and historical documents on loan from leading French, German and other international museums as well as several private collections are on display in the exhibition. Among them are no fewer than twenty-four works by Claude Monet. In addition to works by Eugène Delacroix, Gustave Courbet, and Henri Matisse, the exhibition brings together a host of other important figures in modern and contemporary art, including Johann Wilhelm Schirmer and Eugène Le Poittevin, as well as Camille Corot, Eugène Boudin and Elger Esser.

This coastal town, with its striking rock formations and unique light, has been a source of fascination for artists since the 19th century, and continues to captivate to this day. It was in Étretat that Claude Monet developed his famous serial depiction of motifs, which had a decisive influence on Impressionism.

(Philipp Demandt, Director, Städel Museum)

Étretat played an important role in the emergence of a new style of painting that went down in art history as Impressionism. The artists were particularly interested in the distinctive cliff landscape, which they found both excitingly beautiful and threatening. Painters and writers travelled to Étretat, and it was through their works that this remote place became famous beyond France’s borders.

Following an increase in tourism around 1850, Étretat developed into a popular seaside resort and meeting place for artists, intellectuals, and the Parisian bourgeoisie. Gustave Courbet painted his famous wave pictures here; Guy de Maupassant elevated Étretat to a place of longing in his writing; and Maurice Leblanc’s fictional gentleman thief, Arsène Lupin, hoarded his treasures here. Monet’s fascination with the unique cliffs led him to paint series of motifs in Étretat for the first time, experimenting with the ever-changing light and weather conditions—a working method that would later become his trademark.

Étretat has been a holiday resort and destination for international tourism for more than 150 years. However, the influx of visitors poses as much of a threat to the cliffs as erosion and climate change. The examination of the myth of Étretat thus also makes it possible to understand, as if under a magnifying glass, the ambivalent effects of the popularization of a place and the role that art played in this process.