Städel Museum
19 March to 5 July 2026
The coastal town of Étretat has attained legendary status—and continues to fascinate to this day. Located on the Atlantic coast of Normandy, the cliffs of Étretat captivated numerous artists during the 19th century. From 19 March to 5 July 2026, the Städel Museum is presenting a major exhibition on the artistic discovery of this former fishing village and its influence on modern painting. On display in Frankfurt are around 170 outstanding paintings, drawings, photographs, and historical documents from leading French, German, and other international museums as well as private collections—including 24 works by Claude Monet alone.
Étretat played a significant role in the emergence of a new style of painting that went down in art history as Impressionism. Artists were particularly drawn to the distinctive cliff landscape, which was perceived as both breathtakingly beautiful and menacing. Painters and writers traveled to Étretat, making the remote location famous far beyond France’s borders through their work. With the rise of tourism around 1850, Étretat developed into a popular seaside resort and a meeting place for artists, intellectuals, and the Parisian bourgeoisie: Gustave Courbet painted his famous wave pictures here, Guy de Maupassant elevated Étretat in literature to a place of longing, and the gentleman thief Arsène Lupin—Maurice Leblanc’s fictional character—stashed his art treasures there. The up-and-coming painter Claude Monet was also so fascinated by the unique sheer cliffs and their three natural arches—the Porte d’Amont, the Porte d’Aval, and the Manneporte—that he dedicated numerous paintings to them. Inspired by the constantly changing light and weather conditions, Monet began painting series of the same motif in Étretat—a working method that would later become his trademark.
In addition to works by Eugène Delacroix, Gustave Courbet, Claude Monet, and Henri Matisse, the exhibition brings together a multitude of other significant figures in modern and contemporary art—ranging from Johann Wilhelm Schirmer and Eugène Le Poittevin, through Camille Corot and Eugène Boudin, to Elger Esser. Collectively, the works illustrate the enduring fascination this place continues to exert to this day. Loans have been secured from institutions including the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, and the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.
Philipp Demandt, Director of the Städel Museum, emphasizes: “With our major special exhibition in the spring of 2026, we are dedicating ourselves for the first time to the emergence of the Étretat myth. This coastal town, with its striking rock arches and unique light, has captivated artists since the 19th century and has lost none of its allure. It was in Étretat that Claude Monet developed his famous series of paintings, which played a decisive role in shaping Impressionism. We are particularly proud that two outstanding works from the Städel collection—created in Étretat—form the starting point of the exhibition: Monet’s *Luncheon* and Gustave Courbet’s *The Wave*.
“Claude Monet and the artists featured in this exhibition were travelers who captured the unique character of the coastal region around Étretat in their art. Travel and art connect and inspire people, while fostering the international exchange of knowledge and innovation. Connecting people worldwide is a key priority for us at Fraport AG. Our long-standing partnership with the Städel Museum embodies this commitment and reflects our aim to strengthen cultural dialogue. In this exhibition, we see these goals realized to a remarkable degree...”
CHRONOLOGY
Around 1786
The first known depictions of Étretat come from Alexandre Jean Noël (1752–1834). They were probably commissioned by an oyster farmer to advertise his business.
Around 1820-1822
Eugène Isabey (1803–1886), a representative of romantic landscape painting, was the first artist to stay in the village for a longer period of time. He is hosted by a former navy captain.
1822
The first French seaside resort opens in Dieppe. This is followed by Veules-les-Roses in 1830, Étretat in 1840 and Le Tréport in 1851. Bathing in the sea at this time is said to relieve various ailments.
In Étretat, the patients visit the Duchemin bathing establishment, where fishermen act as so-called “guide-baigneurs” and assist the bathers.
1823-1825
The richly illustrated travel report Excursion sur les côtes et dans les ports de Normandie with a text by Noël Jacques Lefebvre-Duruflé (1792–1877) is published. Among the numerous views of Norman places there are also such Étretats, which means that depictions of the village spread early on.
Around 1831
The painter Eugène Le Poittevin (1806–1870) comes to Étretat for the first time. In the following years he had a villa and a studio built by the sea. The sea, the fishermen and their families, but also the bathers become the central themes of his paintings. These are regularly exhibited at the Paris Salon. Local motifs—such as huts fashioned from retired ship hulls (*caloges*) and the winches used to haul fishing boats ashore (*cabestans*)—begin to appear in art.
1835
The writer Victor Hugo (1802–1885) travels to Normandy during the summer months and visits Étretat. Drawings in his travel journal bear witness to his fascination with the cliff landscape.
1836
The novel *Le Chemin le plus court* (The Shortest Way) by Alphonse Karr (1808–1890) is published. With its descriptions of Étretat’s unique landscape and local customs, the book contributes to the village's growing renown.
1838
One of the first travelogues about Étretat is published: *Reise und Rasttage in der Normandie* (Travel and Rest Days in Normandy), written by the German journalist and politician Jakob Venedey (1805–1871).
Construction begins on the first proper road between Étretat and Le Havre; it is completed in 1852. At this time, the journey from Paris to Étretat by stagecoach still takes at least two days.
1842
Le Poittevin paints a sign for the façade of the Hôtel Blanquet. Later, the façade is also adorned with a faience medallion by Théodore Deck (1823–1891) depicting the writer Alphonse Karr. In 1837, the village's only hotel for many years had adopted the additional name "Au rendezvous des artistes" (Meeting Place for Artists). Over the decades, it hosts many artists, including Claude Monet and Henri Matisse.
1850s
The first photographic views of Étretat are created.
1852
Inauguration of the casino, which attracts a fashionable clientele and becomes a social hub.
1858
The composer Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880) achieves enormous success with Orpheus in the Underworld: The triumph of his opera buffa enables him to have the Villa Orphée built in Étretat. There, he hosts lavish parties in the following years.
Around 1860
The writer Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893) spends his childhood and youth with his mother in Étretat after his parents' separation. Normandy and the lives of its inhabitants are a major source of inspiration for his work. The beach is divided between bathers and fishermen, which significantly reduces the fishermen's working space.
1864
Claude Monet (1840–1926) paints the landscape of Étretat for the first time.
1868/69
Monet stays in Étretat again, this time with his wife Camille and their young son Jean. He paints The Luncheon as well as the painting The Magpie.
1869
Gustave Courbet (1819–1877) moves into Le Poittevin's former studio on the beach to paint The Cliff at Étretat After the Storm and his series of waves. Maupassant later recounts this in "La vie d’un paysagiste" (1886; The Life of a Landscape Painter).
1872
The painter Camille Corot (1796–1875) stays in Étretat with the family of the businessman François Stumpf, who collects his works.
1874
The first Impressionist exhibition takes place in the former studio of the photographer Nadar on the Boulevard des Capucines in Paris. Monet exhibits his painting The Luncheon, created in Étretat.
1877
At the request of the writer Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880), who is working on his novel Bouvard and Pécuchet at the time, Maupassant describes in a letter dated November 3rd [describing] the Normandy coast. These six pages also contain sketches of the coast near Étretat.
1882
Maupassant has the house "La Guillette" built. There, he entertains friends and hosts parties.
1883
Between 1883 and 1886, Monet stays in Étretat every year; it is here that he paints his first series of works based on a single subject. Maupassant publishes his novel *A Life* (*Une vie*) in the newspaper *Gil Blas*.
Like many of his short stories, the novel—which becomes an immediate success—is set in the Pays de Caux region and Étretat.
1885
Monet leaves behind two paintings executed on doors at the "Hostellerie des Vieux Plats." Located just a few kilometers from Étretat in Gonneville-la-Mallet, this inn is a gathering place for artists, intellectuals, politicians, and tourists. The proprietor, Edmond Aubourg, has a habit of asking visiting artists to paint the doors of the region's characteristic wardrobes in exchange for a meal. Monet's paintings are later sold by the owners.
1886
Monet's final stay in Étretat.
1895
The railway line is extended from Les Ifs to Étretat, connecting the town to the Saint-Lazare station in Paris and reducing the travel time to just four hours.
1899
The painter Félix Vallotton (1865–1925) rents the Château de Grandval in Étretat and spends the entire summer there. It serves as the honeymoon for him and his wife, Gabrielle (née Bernheim). Vallotton takes photographs of life on the beach, which he uses as reference material for his paintings. The Swiss painter Sophie Schaeppi (1852–1921) is staying in Étretat and producing oil sketches and drawings.
Around 1900
The Alabaster Coast (Côte d’Albâtre) receives its name. As with other French coastal regions—such as the Côte d’Azur, the Côte d’Émeraude, and the Côte d’Argent—the name, originally coined by writers or artists, is adopted for tourism purposes.
1908
The golf course, which still exists today, is laid out.
1908/09
The novel *Arsène Lupin and the Hollow Needle* (*L’Aiguille creuse*) by Maurice Leblanc (1864–1941) is published—
initially as a serial in the magazine *Je sais tout*, and then in its entirety in 1909. In the novel, the rock needle at Étretat serves as the hiding place for Lupin’s loot. Leblanc wrote the majority of the Arsène Lupin series in his home in Étretat, which he named "Clos Lupin." Today, the house is home to the "Maison d’écrivain" (Writers' House museum), established in honor of the author and his protagonist.
1920
The painter Henri Matisse (1869–1954) spends two periods in Étretat during the summer. He produces a substantial body of paintings and drawings, which he successfully sells.
WALL TEXTS
Monet in Normandy
Claude Monet’s work is defined by a profound connection to Normandy. He spent his childhood there and developed his Impressionist style while living and working in various locations across the region. He was particularly captivated by the rugged coastline—the sea, wind, and waves. Between 1864 and 1886, Monet frequently painted in northern Normandy along the "Alabaster Coast" (Côte d'Albâtre) between Le Havre and Dieppe, in towns such as Fécamp, Pourville, and Varengeville. However, the majority of his works were created in Étretat; with around 80 paintings and pastels, the fishing village holds a prominent place in his body of work. He was particularly captivated by the dramatic cliff formations—the natural rock arches known as Porte d’Amont, Porte d’Aval, and Manneporte, as well as the needle-like rock formation, the Aiguille. Monet studied these features under varying light and weather conditions, experimenting with an early form of serial work that would later become a defining characteristic of his painting style. Monet’s images are perhaps the most famous depictions of Étretat; however, they cannot be viewed in isolation from the many artists who had already discovered the location as early as the beginning of the 19th century.
Étretat’s Path into Art
A lack of roads, a perilous sea, and a bay without a harbor long kept Étretat largely isolated. It was not until the influence of the Enlightenment in the 18th century that scientific fields such as geology and oceanography began to take a descriptive and analytical interest in this Atlantic region. Shortly thereafter, Romantic painters and writers discovered the allure of the wild coastline. The theory popularized at the time by the English philosopher Edmund Burke also began to exert influence: humans must overcome the terror inspired by the forces of nature in order to experience the sublime. Consequently, people began seeking out the awe-inspiring thrill provided by the sea and the coast.
A depiction of Étretat by Alexandre Jean Noël, created as early as 1786, served to promote the oyster farming industry that had been briefly established there. It was not until the 1820s that artists began to settle in the town. Among the pioneers was the marine painter Eugène Isabey, who created atmospheric watercolors of striking motifs to serve as the basis for his larger paintings. Johann Wilhelm Schirmer arrived from Germany at an early stage; his precise oil studies—rooted in the direct observation of nature—introduced the practice of *plein-air* (open-air) painting into the landscape art curriculum at the Düsseldorf Academy. At the same time, the first literary descriptions and illustrated guidebooks appear, making Étretat known beyond the region.
Courbet’s Stay in Étretat
For Gustave Courbet, commercial success with his "seascapes" began in 1865. This prompted him to spend time in the late summer of 1869 in Étretat, which had by then transformed into a fashionable seaside resort. He took up a studio located right on the beach. In mid-September, Courbet witnessed a violent storm battering the English Channel coast—an event that served as the starting point for some 20 paintings featuring two motifs: *The Cliffs After the Storm* and *The Wave*. In these imposing depictions of nature, Courbet eschews narrative or representational elements—and omits the human figure entirely. He does not aim for the closest possible imitation of reality; instead, he consciously constructs an artistic reality. He alters the pictorial space through shifts in perspective or subjects the landscape to strong geometric stylization. In certain areas, Courbet applied the oil paint to the canvas using a spatula-like palette knife. Water, sky and rocks appear to be made of dense matter. At the Paris Salon of 1870, Courbet celebrated unprecedented success with the large-format versions of both motifs. Later artists - including Claude Monet - would measure themselves against Courbet's works.
IMAGES
Étretat. The washerwomen, 1920
Oil on canvas, 54 x 65.4 cm
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Photo © The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
