086

  • The Beach at Trouville

  • ca. 1864
  • Louis-Eugène Boudin (French 1824-1898) [R. Carta]
  • Oil on canvas
  • 24.1 x 35.3 cm., 9-1/2 x 13-7/8"
  • Lent Courtesy of Private Collection in Tribute to Liberal Arts through the AGES through Catherine Carter Goebel, Paul A. Anderson Chair in the Arts, Augustana College

Essay by Dana Ziganto, Class of 2007 and Catherine Carter Goebel, Editor

The Beach at Trouville (1864) is attributed to Louis-Eugène Boudin and is likely a smaller version of the published oil on panel of the same scene (Jean-Aubry and Schmit 41). It demonstrates the robust impression of nature gained through plein-air painting, to which Boudin introduced Monet six years earlier. The location at Trouville, a popular beach resort with the bourgeoisie, as well as Empress Eugénie and Napoleon III, provided a constant source of inspiration for the artist. Of the eleven works that Boudin exhibited at the Paris Salon between 1864 and 1869, seven were beach scenes from Trouville (Hamilton 63).

By 1864, Boudin had already painted such views for at least two years and had derived a basic formula whereby the sky consumes nearly two-thirds of the composition and the beach and sea together make up the other third. Also typical is the horizontal orientation with bands of sky punctuated with clouds, sea with boats and bathers, and the beach as stage-set for various diverse figures on holiday, seemingly unaware of the artist's presence.

In this beach scene, the viewer's eye is inevitably caught by the pair of women on the right, whose fashionable hoop skirts billow in the breeze. A quizzical dog seems to interact with these self-absorbed women, his tail ably suggested by the thinnest brushstroke. A bathing machine, off center to the left, provides a changing place to take refuge from the elements, its geometry at odds with the organic flow of the various figures that enliven the beach. Two women seem to brace themselves against the wind to its right, while a couple interacts at left. A group of three women further left appear to gossip as they react to the shore breeze, as does a gentleman to the far left, who gazes toward the far right at the two approaching women, effectively holding the composition together.

The distant spaces are beautifully and subtly rendered while the atmospheric perspective cools the colors as they retreat. The facility of the brushstroke, quickly noted, effectively indicates the figures in the distance: the boaters at left, the bathers just off center and the seated figures within the concave bay at right. In closely examining such consummate plein-air painting, viewers can appreciate the enthusiasm with which Claude Monet embraced Boudin's philosophy: "...My eyes were finally opened, and I really understood nature. I learned at the same time to love it...I was govenered by the advice of Boudin" (Nochlin: 37-8).