David introduces the majestic white cliffs rising out of the sea at Etretat on the Normandy Coast and their role in the inventive periods ofFrench painting from the romanticism of Delacroix, the realism of Courbet to the Impressionism of the late 1860's through the 1880's.They all respond to Etretat's iconic arches over the sea. He compares the styles and visions of Etretat's artists and reveals the keys to their paintings.
