The relationship between Monet and the sea started soon as the young artist established, along with his family, in the coastal town of Le Havre, Normandy, in the mid-1850s. In these early years Monet did not feel an immediate attraction for the “plen air” painting, but he caught the attention of a painter who had established himself at Le Havre years earlier, Eugene Boudin, still considered one of the greatest seascape painters of the 19th century. After a few months, the master convinced the young artist to accompany him on his outings to paint outdoors. The tenacity of Boudin would not be in vain, and Monet recognized, several years later: "If I became a painter, it was thanks to Boudin."
Between 1881 and 1883 Monet made a series of trips back to Normandy, where the landscapes were enough attractive to satisfy his creative appetite. Unlike his early seascapes, Monet seems to focus more on the coastal landscape than in the ocean itself, taking advantage of the spectacularity of the rugged Normandy coast and its dramatic cliffs. Almost all conventional seascapes are inevitably horizontally conceived, interpreting the horizon, the limit between sea and sky, as the key element in the composition. Many of Monet works from this period are unique for creating an asymmetrical composition of high verticality, as is shown in this one.
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