Like his friend Paul Gauguin, Schuffenecker abandoned a career in commerce in order to pursue his artistic interests.

He made many excursions to the Normandy coast. This canvas offers a panoramic view of the cliffs at Etretat, on the English Channel.

Schuffenecker used rapid, broken strokes to record the reflections on the sunstruck waves and cliffs. Although the pointillist technique in the rocky foreground reveals his awareness of the methods of Georges Seurat, this seascape is primarily an Impressionist effort.