Beach at Sainte-Adresse
by MONET, Claude, Oil on canvas, 76 x 102 cm
In the summer of 1867, Monet painted a number of works en plein air at Sainte-Adresse, including the Regatta at Sainte-Adresse (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) and the Beach at Sainte-Adresse (Art Institute, Chicago) which form a pair. They are similar in size, and the point of view differs by only a few metres. The pair of paintings juxtaposes the sunny regatta, watched at high tide by well-dressed bourgeois, with an overcast scene at low tide, showing fishing boats hauled onto the beach peopled with sailors and workers.