A sweep of pale sand curves across the foreground, marked by elongated shadows and low, broken brushstrokes that describe the uneven surface of the beach. To the left, a vertical chalk face rises abruptly, its edge cropped by the picture plane, while further along the coast the cliffs recede in softened planes of blue and green. The sea occupies the right half of the composition, rendered in light turquoise and milky tones beneath a high, luminous sky. The viewpoint is set at ground level, looking obliquely along the shoreline so that cliff, beach and water unfold in successive bands. Oil is applied in thin layers with visible, directional strokes, particularly across the cliff face where subtle shifts in colour articulate the rock. Painted during the artist’s campaigns in Normandy, Falaise de Pourville forms part of a sustained engagement with the coastal sites around Dieppe and Pourville in the late nineteenth century.