The first and premier French beach resort south of the Seine River, Trouville began as a world renown fishing village on the western coast. Resorts, mansions and a wooden boardwalk soon dominated the shoreline then and today, while our artist, Eugene Boudin, echoes the natural beauty of the region and the rugged nature of the city’s birth in this coastal scene.

A soothing work with a wide variety of color and a sunlit vast sky, the ebb and flow of the tide conveys a sense of timelessness. A slew of fishing vessels await the rising tide alongside the pier, while across two men work on a boat below the seawall as people in elegant dress with parasols stroll the seawall towards the Trouville Lighthouse on the point. Two small boats are in the channel, one showing a splash of red hull, while sailing vessels are in view on the open Atlantic Ocean.

This work from near the end of Boudin’s prolific career is special in its reflective glassy water and accents of sunlight throughout the sky, showing partially why Boudin was bestowed the title “The King of Skies” by Claude Monett. A quite pleasing coastal vignette.

Provenance: Gordon & Jean Southam, Vancouver Newspaper & Forestry Family, since 1960s; Art Emporium Gallery, Vancouver, Canada.

Literature: Eugène Boudin 1824-1898, by Robert Schmit, Third Supplement, No. 3842.