Two Boats at the Harbor of Dieppe

1854

Two Boats at the Harbor of Dieppe, 1854. Eugène Delacroix (French, 1798–1863). Watercolor and pencil on paper laid down on board; image: 22.5 x 34.6 cm (8 7/8 x 13 5/8 in.); sheet: 22.5 x 34.6 cm (8 7/8 x 13 5/8 in.); mounted: 24 x 36 cm (9 7/16 x 14 3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2021.108 In this late drawing, Eugène Delacroix used spare layers of watercolor to record two large boats floating in a harbor, contrasting the bright tones of the French flags flying on both with the subdued hues of the water surrounding them. The artist recorded the scene during one of five stays in Dieppe, a coastal town that became a popular vacation destination after it was connected to Paris by train in 1848. Delacroix was passionate about depicting the sea and its environs and created numerous variations of this subject over the course of about a decade. Eugène Delacroix described making this drawing in his journal, writing on September 1, 1854: “Drew from my window, before dinner, some boats.”