Claude MONET (Paris 1840- Giverny 1926) The raging sea at Etretat, ca. 1868 Pastel on paper Signed 'Cl.Monet' lower left The raging sea at Etretat, pastel, signed, by C. Monet 8.26 x 15.74 in. 21 x 40 cm Provenance: Brame, Paris ; Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1913 ; Collection of Dr Jacques Soubies from 1917; His sale; Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 14 June 1928, n° II ; Maurice Gobin, Paris, 1932; Anonymous sale; Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 4 December 1947, no. 28; Anonymous sale; Paris, Galerie Charpentier, 12 June 1956, no. 187; Maurice Gobin Collection (1883-1962); Then by descent; Private collection, Ile-de-France Exhibitions: Peintres de la mer, Ligue navale française, Paris, 1917, n° 50 Exhibition of French Art, Royal Academy of Art, London, 1932, n° 980 Masterpieces of French Art, Paris, 1937, no 697 Bibliography: Letter from Durand-Ruel to Henry Manet quoting the pastel in stock (Wildenstein, supporting document no. 353, p.219) Gustave Geffroy, Claude Monet, in L'art et les artistes, 1920, no. 11, p. 61, repr. Curiosa, Les grandes ventes de juin, collection du Dr Soubies, in Le Gaulois artistique, 26 May 1928, p. 237, repr. Léon Werth, Claude Monet, Paris, 1928, éditions G. Crès et Cie, pl. 39 Sabine Cotté, Monet, Paris, 1974, éditions Henri Screpel, fig. 4 Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet Catalogue raisonné, Lausanne, Wildenstein Institute, vol. V, 1991, p. 158, no. P.20, repr. Daniel Wildenstein, Monet Catalogue Raisonné - Werkverzeichnis, Cologne, 1996, Editions Taschen, volume II, p. 61, under no. 127 James A. Ganz and Richard Kendall, The Unknown Monet Pastels and Drawings, cat. exhibition, London, Royal Academy of Arts, Williamstown, Clark Art Institute, 2007, quoted p. 142, note 61. Related work : Painting from the former Moreau-Nélaton collection held at the Musée d'Orsay, Paris, RF 1678, W. 127 (fig. 1) In the autumn of 1868, Claude Monet moved to Etretat (where he remained until the spring of 1869) with the help of his patron from Le Havre, Louis Gaudibert, who paid him a small annuity in exchange for paintings. He wrote to Bazille: "I spend my time outdoors on the pebble when the weather is really bad... and naturally I work all the time and I think that this year I'm going to do some serious things". This pastel study certainly precedes the painting Grosse mer à Etretat (Musée d'Orsay, fig. 1)1, with many variations. In particular, Monet added the group of sailors and sailors' wives watching anxiously from the beach as a boat grapples with the elements. This prodigious study of atmosphere shows Monet's debt to Boudin, whose pastel studies praised by Baudelaire are no longer in evidence. Monet found his way here, between Delacroix and Courbet, distinguishing himself both from the romanticism of the former and the more concrete naturalism of the latter. He preceded Courbet's arrival by a year, before the famous Wave exhibited at the 1870 Salon. Here Monet shows the foam attacking the downstream cliff from all sides, with the smoke of spray as if in the midst of a furious battle. Monet was to return regularly to Etretat and painted around fifty pictures on the site. In 1883, the site became so closely identified with Monet that Degas, always on the lookout for something witty to say, wrote to Jacques-Emile Blanche: "I am writing to you from Halévy's house in Etretat. The weather is fine, but more Monet than my eyes can bear". 1. Claude Monet, Grosse mer à Etretat, oil on canvas, between 1868 and 1869, 66.2 x 130.50 cm, Paris, Musée d'Orsay Claude MONET (Paris 1840- Giverny 1926) 21 x 40 cm Related work : Painting from the former Moreau-Nélaton collection in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris, RF 1678, W. 127 (fig. 1) In the autumn of 1868, Claude Monet moved to Etretat (where he remained until the spring of 1869) with the help of his patron from Le Havre, Louis Gaudibert, who paid him a small annuity in exchange for paintings. He wrote to Bazille: "I spend my time outdoors on the pebble when the weather is really bad... and naturally I work all the time and I think that this year I'm going to do some serious things". This pastel study certainly precedes the painting Grosse mer à Etretat (Musée d'Orsay, fig. 1)1, with many variations. In particular, Monet added the group of sailors and sailors' wives watching anxiously from the beach as a boat grapples with the elements. This prodigious study of atmosphere shows Monet's debt to Boudin, whose pastel studies praised by Baudelaire are no longer in evidence. Monet found his way here, between Delacroix and Courbet, distinguishing himself both from the romanticism of the former and the more concrete naturalism of the latter. He preceded Courbet's arrival by a year, before the famous Wave exhibited at the 1870 Salon. Here Monet shows the foam attacking the downstream cliff from all sides, with the smoke of spray as if in the midst of a furious battle. Monet was to return regularly to Etretat and painted around fifty pictures on the site. In 1883, the site became so closely identified with Monet that Degas, always on the lookout for something witty to say, wrote to Jacques-Emile Blanche: "I am writing to you from Halévy's house in Etretat. The weather is fine, but more Monet than my eyes can bear". 1. Claude Monet, Grosse mer à Etretat, oil on canvas, between 1868 and 1869, 66.2 x 130.50 cm, Paris, Musée d'Orsay