Fishing Boats at Étretat

Claude Monet

1885

Oil on canvas

Seattle Art Museum

Several fishing boats are pulled up onto a sandy shore with choppy, turquoise water in the background. The boats are of various sizes and colors, with some showing pink fabric draped over them. Several fishing boats are pulled up onto a sandy shore with choppy, turquoise water in the background. The boats are of various sizes and colors, with some showing pink fabric draped over them. Other artists had painted Étretat’s boats and fishing activity before Monet, but they often saw this world in nostalgic opposition to the superficial and imported glamour of the new tourist economy. For Monet, who had grown up around boats, it was more personal. He respected and identified with the fishermen and their sturdy vessels. In his mind their incessant daily routine, hard labor, and head-to-head confrontation with nature in almost an