Boudin, Eugène (French, 1824-1898)

Eugène Boudin was one of the first French painters to take to painting en plein air—that is, out of doors, in the full glare of daylight and breadth of nature—and is best known today for his Northern French coastal landscapes, particularly of his native Honfleur, but also of popular tourist spots such as Trouville.

During his career, Boudin mingled among the milieux of several seminal French artists, exhibiting alongside Jean-François Millet and Thomas Couture in his early years and befriending the young Claude Monet in the late 1850s—indeed, Boudin exhibited in the first Impressionist exhibition of 1873, one of the most important moments in the history of modern art.

His submissions to the Paris Salon were successful on dozens of occasions, and his scenes of the seaside were celebrated by his contemporaries as accurate portrayals of bourgeoisie France.