Door of the Touques Church 1890

Curator: This is Eugène Boudin’s “Door of the Touques Church,” an oil painting dating from 1890. Editor: It's striking! The ochre and beige tones create this very textured, almost palpable surface. The architectural detail, even though quite worn, is impressive. Curator: Boudin's position as a painter documenting the changing face of Normandy in the late 19th century makes this a key work. Think about the church as a social and political space. How would people have interacted with this doorway? Editor: I am immediately drawn to the application of paint, look at these impasto layers. One can practically feel the build-up of oil-paint mimicking the aging facade. What kind of brushes do you think he used to achieve such depth? Curator: That texture tells its own story about the labour involved, yes. But think, too, about the Church’s enduring influence and how paintings like these participated in a kind of myth-making. Normandy's churches became symbols of community heritage as France modernized. Editor: The open door intrigues me. The lack of visual information— the viewer is forced to contemplate what lies beyond the visible. Is it deliberate commentary on spirituality, or maybe an invitation to see this church as more than architecture and religion? Curator: Good question. Boudin’s decision to crop the image like this pushes us to consider the Church in relation to other evolving institutions like museums. Remember how his work, like this one, soon found their way into public collections where views of religious sites gained secular cultural status. Editor: It all feels meticulously and masterfully crafted using simple resources. One could say it presents labour and time as its core substance, wouldn’t you agree? Curator: I think both play their roles, yes, Boudin captures a moment of architectural, and arguably social transition. Editor: A fruitful and complex piece after all, something I really appreciated after our talk.