ONCE, when Claude Monet was painting the cliffs at Étretat, he became so absorbed he failed to notice a wave until it crashed into him. He had to crawl from the sea on all fours. But this incident did ...
In September, 1870, while Prussian soldiers were trying to starve Paris into surrender, Claude Monet was in Normandy with his wife, Camille, and their son, Jean, looking for a boat out of France. They ...