I chose this painting because I enjoy photo-realism and nature. I find it fascinating how someone can make a piece of art look as realistic as a photo. It makes me happy because these days nearly everything you see is towns and cities, but this image is purely natural with no trace of mankind on it. If I could step into the painting, I'd take photos to preserve a memory and I would look within the rocks to see if there are any rock pools or at the sea to observe marine life.

The setting in this image looks calm and peaceful, as there is no storm. The reason the waves look violent is that they are crashing against a rock. The cliff already looks huge, but try and spot a pair of seagulls around the middle-bottom, you will realize that the size difference is huge! Towards the bottom right there are various different types of vegetation, such as a bunch of burgundy flowers, small shrubs and various different grasses.

Nicolas Chevalier was a Russian-born artist who trained in Switzerland and after arriving at Australia in 1854, he worked there and in New Zealand. He was born on the 9th of May in 1828 in St Petersburg in Russia. Chevalier exhibited two paintings at the Royal Academy of England and illustrated several books. Chevalier died in March 1902 in London.

The colours in this piece are mainly cyan/blue (which is the water), reddish-orange (which is the the rock and the cliff) and green (which is the vegetation). Therefore, I think that this is an amazing painting made by a talented artist. In my opinion this is an underrated piece and must be more well-known in society.