Eugène Boudin

Among the masters of nineteenth century European painters, Eugène Boudin has been long associated with his love of depicting the seascapes of Trouville as well as bustling ports and sailing ships that plied the waters of distant ports of call. His style of painting en plein air was a precusor of the Impressionist movement. Boudin was greatly preoccupied with the depiction of light and atmospheric effects. Indeed, Boudin had a profound influence on Claude Monet by urging the reluctant artist to paint outdoors. Monet in later years was quoted as saying, "If I have become a painter, I owe it to Boudin." Although Boudin was already an established painter and older than the rest of the Impressionists, he exhibited with them in the first group exhibition of 1874.

Bordeaux. Bateaux amarrés sur la Garonne depicts one of Boudin's favorite nautical subjects, the schooner.  With delicate yet deliberate brush strokes, Boudin has captured the momentary calm of low tide. Vessels are visible while dappled reflections dance beneath their massive hulls.  Boudin nostalgically pays hommage to the old ships that hark back to a bygone era giving way to the age of steam.