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“everything that is painted on the spot has strength, a power, a vividness of touch that one does not find again in
the studio.”
eugène Boudin, 1869
this small panel is of a three-masted cargo vessel anchored in Deauville harbor. It is early morning, as the sun begins
to burn through the early haar, a glow reflected on the water’s surface. two crew members glide towards the shore in
a small rowing boat. the day is calm; the tricolore ripples lightly in at the stern of the ship rendered with bright jewel
like touches of paint. Boudin’s knowledge of the sea and of seafaring enables him to capture the complex rigging and
architecture of the vessel with the minimum amount of paint. his rapid brushwork suggests movement in the boat,
figures and in the water’s surface. this painting, like many he made of shipping at Deauville is typically concerned with
light, and contains the immediacy, vibrancy, and rapid brushwork that demonstrate the influence that he had on the
Impressionists.
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