The Beach at Trouville (Trouville, La Plage)

ca. 1887-1896

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.”