The present painting is a study for the painting “Parti fra Møens Klint” (View from the Cliffs of Møn) dated 1852 and exhibited at Charlottenborg 1853 no. 197 with the dimensions 126×190 cm. This was sold at Bruun Rasmussen auction 795, 2008 no. 31 for DKK 800,000 to Fuglsang Art Museum.

Provenance: Winkel & Magnussen auction 52, 1927 no. 124, ill. p. 15 with the title “Møens Klint med Taleren i Eftermiddagsbelysning” (The Cliffs of Møn with Taleren in afternoon light). Bruun Rasmussen auction 119, 1960 no. 203, ill. p. 7. Bruun Rasmussen auction 277, 1972 no. 346, ill. p. 15.

Not many Danish painters had the ability like P.C. Skovgaard to paint the magnificent and dramatic Danish nature. A very good example of this can been seen in the present painting from the Cliffs of Møn.

P.C. Skovgaard was very fascinated by the nature of Møn and he often returned to this specific place with the vertical white cliffs, and from there he painted a number of sketches as well as minor and larger paintings as this one. In 2007, a storm unfortunately damaged the cliffs so this specific view is no longer to be seen.

P.C. Skovgaard visited Møn for the first time in 1842. The art historian N.L. Høyen (1798–1870) and P.C. Skovgaard had a long correspondence about the Cliffs of Møn. Høyen described the area with enthusiasm and told Skovgaard that many picturesque motifs were to be found here. He compared the cliffs with the marble palaces painted by Paulo Veronese (1528–1588). Høyen accentuated the special light appearing in the sea and the sky, and mentioned that the light here, more than anywhere else in Denmark, reminded him of the light in Southern Europe. Høyen's recommendations prompted P.C. Skovgaard to experience the landscape himself and he was overwhelmed. It was not an easy task to paint the enormous cliffs and integrate them into the surroundings - the sky, sea and beach. For a long time Skovgaard was unsure of how to paint the cliffs until one day, while walking on the beach, it suddenly occured to him from where and how to paint them. He decided to paint them seen from the beach, by doing this the cliffs became even more impressive and by a clever use of sunlight and shadow in the painting he gave the cliffs more facets.