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Georges Seurat, Le Bec du Hoc, Grandcamp

Key facts
Full title Le Bec du Hoc, Grandcamp
Artist Georges Seurat
Artist dates 1859 - 1891
Date made 1885
Medium and support Oil on canvas
Dimensions 64.8 × 81.6 cm
Inscription summary Signed
Acquisition credit On loan from Tate: Purchased 1952
Inventory number L728
Location Room 43
Image copyright On loan from Tate: Purchased 1952, © 2000 Tate
Collection Main Collection
Le Bec du Hoc, Grandcamp
Georges Seurat

Seurat painted his first coastal scenes and seascapes at Grandcamp in Normandy which he visited in the summer of 1885. The rocky peak of Le Bec du Hoc lay to the east. It was a spectacular geological feature which was greatly reduced by bombardment during the Second World War.

Seurat made an oil sketch on the spot (Canberra, Australian National Gallery), which served as a study for this painting. In 1888, prior to exhibiting the painting for the fourth time, the artist reworked its surface with fine touches of paint, and also added the painted border, modulating the colours in relation to the painting itself.

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