The Beach at Sainte-Adresse

I read the book Monet by Christopher Heinrich about Monet’s life and work. My favorite story was about how Monet was one of the first to move his studio outdoor, en plain air.

When a wind was blowing he would tie his easel and canvas fast with a cord, but even so nature played its pranks on him, and on one occasions, when he had mistaken the times of the tides, a freak wave washed him into the sea, together with all his utensils and canvases. “Art demands bravery in its soldiers” mocked on contemporary critic.

-Christopher Heinrich in the book “Monet”

It is easy to think of geniuses like Monet in his lofty garden painting away, but instead it is hard work, out in the cold, day after day, fighting the wind and occasionally the sea itself.