The Church at Varengeville, Morning Effect is the most powerful work Monet created while on a painting campaign in Varengeville in 1882. The church of Saint-Valery is a Romanesque medieval church, built in the 12th-century, perched dramatically near the edge of  a towering cliff. It has long been a mariners' church and many generations of local fisherman are buried in the cemetery.

Monet painted the church of Saint-Valery many times, but the fierceness of his brush strokes in this work distiguish it from his other paintings.

The church of Saint-Valery is famous for its Tree of Jesse stained-glass window designed by the painter George Braque. Braque was a contemporary of Pablo Picasso and a co-innovator of cubism.

George Braque lived and died at Varengeville-sur-mer. He and his wife are buried in the cemetery of Saint-Valery. Their tomb is decorated with a mosaic inspired by the colors of Normandy.

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