The Beach at Sainte-Adresse

In this painting, Claude Monet depicted a moody sky over a beach in Sainte-Adresse, an affluent suburb of Le Havre in northern France. He was familiar with the landscape, having grown up in the area, but the region underwent dramatic change during his lifetime: in particular, the expansion of the country’s rail network turned many rural fishing villages into seaside resorts for tourists. Here, Monet hinted at this transformation, placing a group of local fishermen and their boats in the foreground while drawing the eye to the red details in the outfit of a fashionable woman sitting beside her companion, who idly watches the sailboats through a telescope.