Beach near Etretat

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

National Gallery of Art

Moss-green land rising to a tree-topped bluff follows the curve of a sandy beach surrounding a pale blue cove in this horizontal landscape painting. The hill and olive-green trees take up most of the height of the left side of the composition. The beach curves from the lower right corner back and to our left, and curves around the cliff face of the bluff. Closest to us, the land is flecked with saffron gold, and two dark brown patches smear the sand. The beach or a sandbar creates a strip of pale brown across the horizon, which comes halfway up the canvas. Distant hills to our left are suggested by a battleship-gray slope. The slate-blue sky above is layered with swirls and bands of oyster-white and pewter-gray clouds. The artist signed the lower left, “COROT.”