Boudin, Eugène (1824-1898)
La Plage à Trouville (Beach at Trouville)
1873
Oil on panel, 21 x 41.3 cm
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena
Boudin was the great painter of Normandy’s beach resorts: the casinos and grand hotels of Trouville and Deauville that sprang into being once the railway reached the sea. Working rapidly and outdoors, he captured vacationing Parisians in changing coastal light. Boudin’s fascination with changeability, whether of fashion or the weather, anticipated the Impressionist movement, inspiring Monet’s and Renoir’s first forays into outdoor painting. (Norton Simon)