Eugène Boudin (1824-1898) had long been fascinated by light on sand and water when he met Impressionist painter Claude Monet. Boudin's early influence on Monet had a long and enduring effect, and Monet traveled to a number of the sites that sparked Boudin's interest. In 1870, Monet even echoed Eugène Boudin's beach scene at Trouville.

Oil painting of tourists by the sea, La Plage de Trouville by Eugene Boudin.
La Plage de Trouville by Eugène Boudin is an oil on canvas
 (10-3/8 x 16 inches) that can be seen at Musée d'Orsay, Paris.
See more pictures of Impressionist paintings.

La Plage de Trouville (1865) is a clear indication that Impressionist Eugène Boudin seemed to enjoy painting fashionable beach resorts crowded with tourists on seaside vacations. He had a sharp eye for detail and color, allying himself with the new modernists who painted subjects of contemporary life. He portrayed the scene as he saw it, disdaining narrative and anecdote and presenting the figures as part of the setting.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Debra N. Mancoff, Ph.D., is an art historian and lecturer and the author of numerous books on nineteenth-century European and American paintings. She is a scholar in residence at the Newberry Library and an adjunct associate professor and adjunct lecturer at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.