''The Cliff Walk at Pourville'' is an 1882 painting by the French Impressionist painter

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

. It currently resides at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

. It is a landscape painting featuring two women atop a cliff above the sea. The canvas was inspired by an extended stay at

Pourville Hautot-sur-Mer (, literally ''Hautot on Sea'') is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France. Geography A small town of farming and light industry situated in the Pays de Caux, immediately to the west of ...

in 1882. Monet settled in the village between February and mid-April, during which time he wrote to his future wife,

Alice Hoschedé Alice Raingo Hoschedé Monet (February 19, 1844 – May 19, 1911) was the wife of department store magnate and art collector Ernest HoschedéJohn House, ''Monet: Nature into Art,'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986), 112. The sense of immediacy is heightened by the juxtapositions of the cliff and sea, the contrast between ground and openness.

See also