The Beach at Pourville Claude Oscar Monet (1840-1926)

Description of Claude Monet’s painting "The Beach at Purville"

"The Beach at Purville" is a painting by one of France’s most talented artists, Claude Monet, painted in 1882. It is part of a series of canvases that were painted when the artist lived in the small resort town of Purville, located in northern France.

The painter was very fond of picturing the water element, which once again confirms this picture. The sea in Purville Beach is teeming with blue, blue, gray, green, and white. It throws small, foamy waves on the white sandy shore and rocks.

But the expanse of sea in this painting by Monet is not infinite and boundless, as Marinists like to portray it, on the contrary, the French artist has surrounded it with white shores on different sides. Even if you look into the distance, we can see the towering white cliffs everywhere.

The color scheme of the sea is very soft, it flows smoothly into the blue sky with white, airy clouds. The beach is completely empty, there is not a single person on it - just the endless sea, the rocks and the sky.

On the one hand it evokes positive and kind feelings, romantic feelings and inspires you by its bright colors. And on the other hand, because of its emptiness, there is a slight feeling of excitement and anxiety.

Perhaps the author wanted to show the approaching change of weather - from favorable and clear to cloudy. As if a downpour and storm is about to begin, the frothy waves will no longer be so small and harmless.

Since 1906, the painting "Beach at Purville" was acquired by the Polish National Museum. But in 2000 it was stolen. Fortunately, 10 years after the theft, the canvas was found and returned to the museum in Poznan, where it remains today. It is the only original Claude Monet painting that is kept in Poland.