Claude Monet ventured out to an area on the Normandy coast accessible only at low tide to paint Rock Needle Seen through the Porte d'Aval. (National Gallery of Canada)A Claude Monet painting depicting dramatic rock formations on the coast of Normandy has joined the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Canada.

Montreal arts patron, collector and philanthropist Marjorie Bronfman has given Rock Needle seen through the Porte d'Aval — an oil-on-canvas work the French impressionist master painted in 1886 — to the Ottawa gallery, officials announced.

"This painting reflects Marjorie Bronfman's passion for art and her eye for excellence," gallery director Marc Mayer said in a statement.

"We are most grateful to her for this magnificent complement to the gallery's internationally recognized collection of impressionist art."

Rock Needle seen through the Porte d'Aval, which has been on a long-term loan to the gallery and displayed since 2004, is valued at close to $4 million.

Monet, who was raised in Normandy in the northwestern French city Le Havre, returned to the region over his lifetime to capture its landscapes and, in the case of the town of Étretat, its famed cliffs.

To set himself apart from other artists who had captured images of Étretat before him, Monet sought out unusual and challenging vantage points from where he could paint.

He completed Rock Needle seen through the Porte d'Aval from an area beyond the beach and accessible only at low tide. The rare position allowed him to capture the dramatic alignment of one of Étretat's famed natural arches and a pointed rock formation.

Rock Needle seen through the Porte d'Aval joins other Monet works at the National Gallery, including Waterloo Bridge: The Sun in a Fog and Jean-Pierre Hoschedé and Michel Monet on the Banks of the Epte.

Bronfman has been a regular supporter of the National Gallery over the years. She has lent pieces from her personal collection to the gallery, donated two works by 18th century Venetian painter and printmaker Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo and, with her late husband, Gerald, established an endowment fund for the acquisition of rare drawings.