Oscar-Claude Monet (14 November 1840 to 5 December 1926) was a founder of French Impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy. This piece, "The Cliff Walk at Pourville," was made in 1882 during at extended stay there by Monet to escape a difficult time at home. "In this work, Monet addressed the problem of inserting figures into a landscape without disrupting the unity of its painterly surface. He integrated these elements with one another through texture and color. The grass—composed of short, brisk, curved brushstrokes—appears to quiver in the breeze, and subtly modified versions of the same strokes and hues suggest the women's wind-whipped dresses and shawls and the undulation of the sea." - Art Institute of Chicago, http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/14620