Cliffs at Villerville

Charles-François Daubigny (1817 - 1878), 1864-1872

oil on canvas, 100 cm x 200 cm
The Mesdag Collection, The Hague

Cliffs at Villerville-sur-Mer is one of no less than 25 paintings and drawings by Daubigny in The Mesdag Collection. Mesdag greatly admired this artist and organized an exhibition of his work in The Hague in 1890.

Daubigny used a range of grey tones to paint the threatening cloudy sky above the coastal town of Villerville-sur-Mer in Normandy. Only the crests of the waves and the white cap of the woman light up in the dark surroundings.

This picture looked somewhat different when Daubigny first painted it in 1864. He later worked on it again two more times before he was satisfied. He made the final adjustments in 1872, changing the foreground from light to dark and making the sky more dramatic.