Cliffs in Normandy

Rousseau visited Normandy in 1831, following in the footsteps of the watercolorists of the previous generation. His pen lines here are so daring and free that some have suggested the view is a later remembrance of these coastal cliffs drawn in the 1850s. The quivering contours and scribbled shading lends a sense of speed to the composition, as though the sky or weather were rapidly changing. It was this type of mark making that elicited Vincent van Goghʼs appreciation for Rousseauʼs drawings.