Monet on the Normandy Coast: Tourism and Painting, 1867-1886

by Robert L. Herbert

In this magnificently illustrated book, Robert L. Herbert, author of the acclaimed Art, Leisure, and Parisian Society, presents a new interpretation of Monet's beautiful seascapes of the Normandy coast. Discussing more than fifty works, Herbert shows how these splendid pictures of Etretat and other resorts reflect the dialogue between the modern city and pre-modern nature that underlay tourism. Interweaving the colorful history of sea resorts, stylistic analysis, details of Monet's life, and reflections on the marketing of his art, this book offers a fascinating new perspective on some of the artist's most beloved works.
Herbert points out that in early paintings at Sainte-Adresse and Trouville Monet represented vacationers and resort leisure, but when he returned to the Normandy coast in the early 1880s, he painted lonely views that eliminated all signs of tourism. He shows that generations of vacationers seeking these views had transformed fishing villages into resorts, even as they wished to preserve the illusions of a pre-modern seacoast. Monet's modernity lay in the production of neo-romantic myths, illusions of spontaneous responses to untouched nature that were welcomed by Parisian galleries and international collectors. At the same time, Herbert notes, modernity is also found in Monet's evocative brushwork and color and in his dramatic bird's-eye views, which speak to modern culture's search for personal release from the workplace.

168 pages, Hardcover

First published October 26, 1994

Reviews

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. I am in love with Monet but I’m not really any sort of art educated other than what I enjoy. It’s why I liked this book. It was not so much about the techniques and brush strokes etc. - the technical aspects of his painting. It was about his work, his life and how it related to how folks traveled and vacationed in the late 19th century. That is why I enjoyed it.