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The Sunken Road in the Cliff at Varengeville (Le Chemin creux dans la falaise à Varengeville)
ArtistClaude Monet
Year1882
TypePainting
MediumOil on canvas
SubjectVarengeville
Dimensions77.5 cm × 90 cm (30.5 in × 35 in)
LocationThe New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall, England
Accession1973.171.GR
WebsiteThe Sunken Road in the Cliff at Varengeville at The New Art Gallery Walsall

The Sunken Road in the Cliff at Varengeville (Le Chemin creux dans la falaise à Varengeville) is an 1882 oil painting by Claude Monet. It is one of the celebrated works in the Garman Ryan Collection at The New Art Gallery Walsall. This collection of 365 works was gifted to the people of Walsall by Lady Kathleen Epstein in 1973. Kathleen (née Garman) was the widow of the sculptor Jacob Epstein and she and her friend, the sculptor Sally Ryan, together created an art collection which featured works by some of the most significant artists of the 19th and 20th century, such as Van Gogh, Cézanne and Monet.

Varengeville is a small fishing village in Normandy. Monet moved here in 1882, the year the work was painted. The Church at Varengeville features in the collection of the Barber Institute of Fine Arts at the University of Birmingham.[1] The Normandy coastline inspired a series of paintings. Another view of the same scene entitled The Path of Le Petit Ailly at Varengeville (Le Chemin du Le Petit Ailly à Varengeville) belongs to a private collection in France. [2]

In his depictions of this view, Monet was interested in the triangular shapes formed by the meeting of cliffs, sky and sea.[3] The cottage on the left hand side is the customs officer's cottage overlooking the Gorge du Petit Ailly. [4] The different versions show his interest in changing light and seasonal conditions.[5]

The work is due to feature in a major new exhibition in Japan in late 2013. Impressionists at Waterside begins at the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum in October, before traveling to the Fukuoka City Museum, and the Museum of Kyoto in 2014[6] It has also been selected by the BBC as one of the Masterpieces in Schools - and in early October 2013 will spend the day at a school in the West Midlands. This is the to raise awareness of the BBC Your Paintings website, which contains images of all the oil paintings in public collections in the UK, which were catalogued by the Public Catalogue Foundation.[7]

References

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  1. ^ McGregor, Sheila (1999). A Shared Vision. Merrell Holberton. p. 63. ISBN 1858940869.
  2. ^ Wildenstein, Daniel (1996). Monet Catalogue Raisonne. Taschen. p. 299. ISBN 3822885592.
  3. ^ McGregor, Sheila (1999). A Shared Vision. Merrell Holberton. p. 63. ISBN 1858940869.
  4. ^ Wildenstein, Daniel (1996). Monet Catalogue Raisonne. Taschen. p. 299. ISBN 3822885592.
  5. ^ McGregor, Sheila (1999). A Shared Vision. Merrell Holberton. p. 63. ISBN 1858940869.
  6. ^ "Impressionists at Waterside".
  7. ^ "Your Paintings - Your School".