When the first artists arrived, fishing was the main activity in Étretat. At the time, the village was made up of thatched cottages and the living and working conditions of its inhabitants were difficult. The lack of a harbour meant that boats had to be beached when they returned from sea, using capstans and delicate manoeuvres. These winches became an essential part of the depictions of Étretat, as did the caloges, out-of-use boats with thatched roofs used to store fishing gear.
Eugène Le Poittevin was the first artist to have a villa built to establish himself permanently in the area. He rubbed shoulders with the fishermen, capturing their daily lives in genre scenes that he exhibited at the Parisian Salons. He also witnessed the beginnings of tourism, with the advent of sea bathing. This new practice was spurred on by the development of medical prescriptions recommending ‘Blade’ bathing *, which was said to have numerous therapeutic virtues. The proximity of Paris made the Normandy coast a favoured destination, and a bathhouse opened in Étretat in 1840. It was from the 1850s onwards that the seaside resort phenomenon developed, with the construction of second residences, hotels and tourist facilities such as a casino. Compared with other more glamorous resorts, such as Deauville, Étretat retained an artistic and intellectual character: writers, composers, painters and sculptors mingled here in a sought-after ‘entre-soi’.

* « Blade » bath: a sea bath in which a person is suddenly and repeatedly plunged into the water by another person.  

Labels

Jean Louis Jazet
Paris (France), 1814 - 1897
After Eugène Le Poittevin (aka Eugène Poidevin)
Paris (France), 1806 - 1870
The Story of a Fishing Boat, no. 1. The Christening
1856
Aquatint
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, département des Estampes et de la Photographie

Jean Louis Jazet
Paris (France), 1814 - 1897
After Eugène Le Poittevin (aka Eugène Poidevin)
Paris (France), 1806 - 1870
The Story of a Fishing Boat, no. 2. Fishing
1856
Aquatint
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, département des Estampes et de la Photographie

Jean Louis Jazet
Paris (France), 1814 - 1897
After Eugène Le Poittevin (aka Eugène Poidevin)
Paris (France), 1806 - 1870
The Story of a Fishing Boat, no. 3. Selling the Catch
1856
Aquatint
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, département des Estampes et de la Photographie

Jean Louis Jazet
Paris (France), 1814 - 1897
After Eugène Le Poittevin (aka Eugène Poidevin)
Paris (France), 1806 - 1870
The Story of a Fishing Boat, no. 4. The Shipwreck
1856
Aquatint
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, département des Estampes et de la Photographie

Eugène Le Poittevin (aka Eugène Poidevin)
Paris (France), 1806 - 1870
Hauling a Boat, Memories of Étretat Beach
1856
Oil on canvas
Private collection
Étretat does not have a harbour where boats can moor. To protect the fishing boats from the wind, which is often unfavourable, they have to be beached on the pebble shore each time they return from a trip out to sea. Although this painting, exhibited by Eugène Le Poittevin at the Paris Salon in 1857, focuses on four fishermen pulling a boat with difficulty through the use of a cable, the manoeuvring was done using capstans, as shown in the background; the operation of these winches was generally entrusted to women. The boats had to be designed with a hull strong enough to allow them to be beached: they thus had a characteristic shape and were known as caïques.

Eugène Le Poittevin (aka Eugène Poidevin)
Paris (France), 1806 - 1870
Étretat, Shell Fishermen at the Foot of the Rock Needle
1860
Oil on canvas
Fécamp, Les Pêcheries, musée de Fécamp
Purchased with the support of the French government and the Normandy Region as part of the Regional Acquisition Fund for Museums, 2019

Eugène Le Poittevin (aka Eugène Poidevin)
Paris (France), 1806 - 1870
Hunting for Guillemots
Ca. 1865
Oil on canvas
Fécamp, Les Pêcheries, musée de Fécamp
Purchased with the support of the French government and the Normandy Region as part of the Regional Acquisition Fund for Museums, 2018
Common guillemots, or murres, are migratory seabirds that used to nest every April on a rocky outcrop to the south-west of Étretat, near Cap d'Antifer. This phenomenon led to the site becoming known as ‘le roc aux guillemots’ [Guillemot Rock]. However, the development of a recreational hunting activity, offered to tourists and described here by Eugène Le Poittevin, decimated the population, causing the disappearance of these birds from the Normandy coastline. The writer Guy de Maupassant made this hunting activity the subject of his short story ‘La Roche aux guillemots’ [Guillemot Rock], published in 1882.

Eugène Le Poittevin (Eugène Poidevin, aka)
Paris (France), 1806 - 1870
Étretat Beach, Sign for the Blanquet Hotel
Ca. 1842
Oil on panel
Fécamp, Les Pêcheries, musée de Fécamp
Founded around 1820 by Simon Blanquet, the Hôtel Blanquet, located on the beach at Étretat, was initially the only hotel in the village. With its low rates, it attracted many artists who also appreciated its exceptional location. Claude Monet, and later Henri Matisse, each worked from their room window. Playing on this reputation, in 1837 the owner added the motto ‘au rendez-vous des artistes’ to the façade. He also commissioned Eugène Le Poittevin to make a sign showing the view from the shore towards the Porte d'Amont. In front of some caloges*, a fisherman offers his catch to two female tourists. A summer visitor sits on the pebble beach, reading. The Hôtel Blanquet was destroyed by German troops during the Second World War.
* Out-of-use boats with thatched roofs used to store fishing gear.

Hippolyte Bayard
Breteuil-sur-Noye, Oise (France), 1801 – Nemours, Seine-et-Marne (France), 1881
and Bertall (Charles Albert d’Arnoux, said)
Paris (France), 1820 – Soyons, Ardèche (France), 1882
Eugène Oudiné, His Family and Friends on the Beach at Étretat
Ca. 1861-1865
Albumen print, mounted on cardboard, inserted into a photo album
Lyon, musée des Beaux-Arts
Gift of Marie-Geneviève Froidevaux, 2025

Henry Bacon
Haverhill (USA), 1839 – Le Caire (Egypt), 1912
Hélène and Léon, Children of Fishermen
1888
Fishermen on the Beach, Étretat, plate IV, etching by Fortuné Louis Méaulle
Fécamp, Les Pêcheries, musée de Fécamp

Jean Benoît Désiré Cochet
Sanvic, Seine-Maritime (France), 1812 – Rouen, Seine-Maritime (France), 1875
Étretat, its Past, Present, and Future: Archaeology, History, Monuments, Rocks, Sea Bathing
1862
Illustrated edition with engravings, this copy with anonymous photographs pasted in it
Family of Fishermen in Front of a Caloge in Étretat, albumen print from a glass negative
Caloge on Étretat “Perrey”, and Boat, Capstan and Caloge of Étretat, wood engravings
Honfleur, Pierre Gaston Collection

Léon & Lévy
Étretat, Working on the Fishing Nets
Postcard
Frankfurt, Städel Museum

Neurdein Frères
Étretat, the Laundresses
Postcard
Frankfurt, Städel Museum

Eugène Le Poittevin (aka Eugène Poidevin)
Paris (France), 1806 - 1870
Sea Bathing in Étretat
1866
Oil on canvas
Troyes, musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie
Gift of Agathe Audiffred, 1898

Eugène Le Poittevin (aka Eugène Poidevin)
Paris (France), 1806 - 1870
Sea Bathing, Beach of Étretat
1865
Oil on canvas
Private collection
Successfully exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1865, this painting was acquired by Emperor Napoleon III for the décor of the Élysée Palace. It forms a pair with another sea-bathing scene of almost identical dimensions, showing a diving board on wheels, which was exhibited at the following Salon. It is a vivid testimony to the new leisure society that was taking over Étretat. Although bathers and a canoeist are visible in the background, this scene takes place in the afternoon and emphasises the promenade, for which the women wear crinolines and parasols. Changing cabins have been set up on the pebble beach, while wooden planks form a walkway to the water, a practice that is gradually becoming the norm on Normandy beaches.

Bertall (aka Charles Albert d’Arnoux)
Paris (France), 1820 – Soyons, Ardèche (France), 1882
Summer Visitors on the Beach at Étretat
Ca. 1867
Albumen print from a collodion glass negative
Fécamp, Pascal Servain Collection

Octave Jahyer
Paris (France), 1826 – Maidenhead (United Kingdom), 1905
After Gustave Doré
Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin (France), 1832 – Paris (France), 1883
Sea Bathing
1856
Wood engraving, published in French-English Museum
Private collection

Hugues Merle
La Sône, Isère (France), 1822 – Paris (France), 1881
Young Girl from Étretat
1869
Oil on canvas
Fred and Sherry Ross Collection, the United States of America
The genre scenes painted by Hugues Merle met with considerable success during the Second Empire, and he became one of the most sought-after artists on the art market, particularly among American collectors. In 1867, he acquired a villa in Étretat, which he named “Les Oiseaux” [The Birds] after himself (merle being the French word for blackbird), and where he lived on a regular basis. He used the location as inspiration for several paintings, including this one, which was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1870 and was sold soon after in the United States. It depicts the village women washing their clothes on the beach, in a small stream exposed by low tide. This picturesque motif regularly attracted the attention of artists.

Alfred Taiée
Paris (France), 1820 – Le Vésinet, Yvelines (France), 1881
Étretat, the Beach and the Cliff of Aval
1867
Etching
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, département des Estampes et de la Photographie

Giovanni Boldini
Ferrara (Italy), 1842 – Paris (France), 1931
Return of the Fishing Boats, Étretat
1879
Oil on panel
Williamstown, Clark Art Institute
Purchased by Sterling and Francine Clark, 1929