Deauville. Le Rivage 1896

Eugène Boudin painted this oil on canvas, “Deauville. Le Rivage,” with a horizon line that divides the composition nearly in half. Look at how the upper register, dominated by the sky, interacts with the earthy tones of the lower register where land meets water. Boudin was celebrated for his skies, and here, they demonstrate an atmospheric perspective, creating depth and distance. The clouds are rendered with soft, diffused edges, contributing to a sense of movement and ephemerality. Boudin's brushstrokes are loose and suggestive, which captures the transient effects of light and weather. The boats on the horizon are rendered with a sketch-like quality, suggesting their smallness in relation to the vastness of the natural world. Boudin, anticipating Impressionism, was not just representing a landscape; he was capturing a fleeting moment, the sensation of light and atmosphere. This interest in the immediate, sensory experience over detailed representation marked a shift towards modern art's concerns with perception and subjectivity.