The Alabaster Coast

With its majestic cliffs, shingle beaches, extraordinary valleuses (natural depressions in the cliffs) and fishing villages, the Alabaster Coast will reward you with an authentic Impressionist journey. From Dieppe to Étretat, you will fall in love with its delightful landscapes bathed by the changing light, made famous by the Impressionists and almost unaltered since their day. At the initiative of the Duchess of Berry, in 1824 Dieppe transformed itself into a bathing resort. Its charm soon fascinated painters like Turner, Isabey, Courbet, Delacroix, Morisot, Pissarro and Renoir, no less!

Fécamp followed suit in 1832 by building a swimming pool and a casino. Its cliffs and seascape attracted another Impressionist in the person of Claude Monet, who would paint more than 100 pictures between Dieppe and Varengeville. Stimulated by the coast’s beauty, the master of Impressionism later became enamoured of another dramatic Norman setting: Étretat. This unique port, with its extraordinary rock formations, also captured the attention of Eugène Boudin and Gustave Courbet, who painted more than fifty views of its coastline and sea.