It is unclear whether Gudin visited Belle-Île when he toured Brittany in 1830.  The date that appears on the work, « 4^th December 1831 », suggests that the painter was actually there on that day, but the work was obviously painted in a Paris studio.  The site itself does not exist on the island and the picture is more representative of a memory of a storm than a precise evocation, as the cliffs and rocks are imaginary.  The painter, by noting on the canvas the date of this storm, wanted to attest to the exceptional character of the event that had confronted him.