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The Beach at Trouville (Trouville, La Plage)

Eugène Louis Boudin

European Art

Here, Eugène Louis Boudin depicted local workers in a horse-drawn cart crossing a beach that, at other times, was filled with fashionable urban tourists. He was committed to working en plein air (outdoors) to capture with freshness and immediacy the play of light on water and clouds in patches of color.

This approach had a profound influence on his younger friend Claude Monet, who recalled: “One day Boudin said to me: ‘Learn to draw well and appreciate the sea, the light, the blue sky.’ I took his advice and together we went on long outings during which I painted constantly from nature. This was how I came to understand nature and learned to love it passionately. . . . I have said it before and can only repeat that I owe everything to Boudin and I attribute my success to him.”
MEDIUM Oil on canvas
  • Place Made: France
  • DATES ca. 1887–1896
    DIMENSIONS 14 3/8 x 23 in. (36.5 x 58.4 cm) Frame: 21 1/2 x 30 1/8 x 3 1/8 in. (54.6 x 76.5 x 7.9 cm)  (show scale)
    SIGNATURE Signed lower right: "E. Boudin."
    COLLECTIONS European Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 15.314
    CREDIT LINE Bequest of Robert B. Woodward
    PROVENANCE Prior to 1901, provenance not yet documented; by June 3, 1901, acquired by Robert Blackburne Woodward of Brooklyn, NY; 1915, bequeathed by Robert Blackburne Woodward to the Brooklyn Museum.
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    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Eugène Louis Boudin (French, 1824–1898). The Beach at Trouville (Trouville, La Plage), ca. 1887–1896. Oil on canvas, 14 3/8 x 23 in. (36.5 x 58.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of Robert B. Woodward, 15.314 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 15.314_SL3.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 15.314_SL3.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2015
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