“I am painting the town of Antibes,” Monet wrote to his companion, Alice Hoschedé, in January, 1888, “a little fortified town all golden in the sun that stands out against beautiful blue and pink mountains and the eternally snow-capped range of the Alps.” Monet’s stay at Antibes, between Nice and Cannes on the French Riviera, lasted from January to May, allowing him to avoid the dreariest months of the year in Northern France and to satisfy his dealer’s appetite for idyllic, sun-drenched seascapes.
