The Rock Needle and the Porte D’Aval
CLAUDE MONET
CLAUDE MONET, 1886
Monet returned to the beaches of Normandy again and again. Raised nearby, the limestone cliffs and natural arches embedded themselves in his psyche from childhood and Monet would escape the Urban environment to obsessively paint the rock formations. He was relentlessly in his documentation, capturing every viewpoint, at every time of day. He became a hunter of change, studying the way the moving light altered the colours and shadows. He would paint up to five of six canvases a day, abandoning them as the changing sky dictated. Monet’s whole life can be told in his paintings of Porte D’Aval – the appearance of the rocks changes not just with time but with the man, with his mood and experiences. As with all obsessions, Monet projected himself onto these arches, beach and sea, drawing them as if out of necessity.