3 paintings that tell the story of Monet in Belle-île

At the Marec Inn, where he was staying, Monet was advised to visit the Grand Phare and the Grotte de l’Étoile. He goes there on foot, alone. He finds Port Coton an interesting place to paint, which immediately makes him think of Japanese prints, very much in vogue at the time (Van Gogh was crazy about them) and the needles of Étretat, from which he returns.

He works on the rock and the sea with very little sky in order to express all the strength or even the wildness of the landscapes. He chooses different framings, seeks to paint the structure of the rock, like a sculpture, which is new to him.

“In the morning, the weather was great, but around 9 o’clock, the clouds come, then wind and the terrible rain.”

So he was “forced” to work in series, as the weather and light changed so often. Belle-Île imposed this new method on him, which he would later adopt for his other subjects such as cathedrals or haystacks.

“To really paint the sea, you have to see it every day, at all hours and in the same place to know the life of it there; so I redo the same patterns up to 4 and 6 times even…“

Monet is truly the “inventor” of the Port Coton tourist site. Upon arrival, there are no roads or Manor Houses, the landscape is flat and open. There is only the Great Lighthouse and the Semaphore of Talut…which he makes disappear from his paintings by the way!

Claude Monet will paint Port Goulphar about ten times. He creates the perspective because thanks to the warm colors in the foreground and cold colors in the background. He applies himself to reproduce the “physical” structure of the rock thanks to small touches of paint, like a sculpture. He also endeavors to use the grain of the canvas to create a relief effect.

At the same time (late November) he is expected by his friend, Octave Mirbeau in Noirmoutier. The latter, tired of waiting, joined Monet in Belle-Île and was struck by his work:

“I went to spend 8 days with Monet in Belle-Île…He did very great things: it will be a new strength of his talent. A terrible, formidable Monet.”

Gustave Geffroy is an art critic who regularly publishes his papers in the newspaper “La Justice” that Clémenceau pilots.

In the midst of a political crisis, he goes on the trail of Auguste Blanqui, exiled on Belle-île. There he will meet Claude Monet, at the Marec Inn,  and a cart ride to La Pointe des Poulains will seal their friendship.

Monet would offer him the painting “Rochers à Port Goulphar” in 1900 when Gustave Geffroy became the great painter’s biographer.