Belle-Île is a small French island off the coast of Brittany. During the nineteenth century, its principal attraction for artists was la côte sauvage. Literally ‘the wild coast’, here the land ends abruptly and drops into a turbulent sea, which, over millennia, has formed fantastically shaped rocks and grottoes. Australian expatriate artist John Russell first visited Belle Île in 1886. He settled there two years later and built a large house at Goulphar, where he lived for almost two decades. His obsession with dramatic subjects and colour was typical of the time, as was his practice of painting subjects repeatedly under different lighting and weather conditions. Belle Île was also a favourite subject for Claude Monet, a great friend to Russell and his wife, Marianna.