Beach Scene, Trouville

By the mid nineteenth century, the Normandy coastal town Trouville had developed into smart seaside resort, attracting well-to-do holidaymakers from Paris and further afield. Boudin found a ready market for his small scenes that chronicled the summer activity along the beach. Here, well-dressed men and women stroll up and down, relax on chairs or sit on the sand, and nannies look after children by a white bathing hut. The ladies appear to wear bustles, which became the height of fashion in the 1870s. A flag in the upper right-hand corner flutters in the sea breeze.

The canvas, like many of Boudin's small beach scenes, appears to have been painted quickly. A child in the foreground is sketched in with a few rapid dabs of blue and yellow paint, and the briefest of brushstrokes indicate sea bathing in the left background. This is one of two canvases by Boudin in the National Gallery that were owned by his close friend Monet.

Credit: Bequeathed by Miss Judith E. Wilson, 1960