Eugène-Louis Boudin
Scene on the Beach at Trouville, Sunset1867

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Oil painting of a crowded beach scene with figures in 19th-century dress gathered on sand near the ocean, loose brushwork, warm amber and yellow sky

Artist or Maker: Eugène-Louis Boudin
France, Honfleur, 1824-1898
Title: Scene on the Beach at Trouville, Sunset
Culture: French
Date Made: 1867
Medium: Oil on panel
Dimensions: Panel: 11 × 18 1/2 in. (27.94 × 46.99 cm) Frame: 20 3/8 × 27 5/8 × 3 in. (51.75 × 70.17 × 7.62 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of A. Jerrold Perenchio
Accession Number: M.2025.64.9
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: European Painting and Sculpture
Curatorial Notes: Eugène Boudin’s paintings of the sea, the sky, and Parisians at their summer escapes on the Norman coast, exquisitely rendered in such panels as Scene on the Beach at Trouville, Sunset, secured his critical reputation. Over the course of his four-decade career, he made thousands of oils, watercolors, and drawings on the coast where the river Seine meets the English Channel, developing a luminous style that positioned him as a precursor to Impressionism. Claude Monet recorded his debt to the elder Norman painter on several occasions: “I have said it before and I will repeat it: I owe everything to Boudin, and I am grateful to him for my success.” Largely self-taught, Boudin worked on the coast, focusing mainly on the ethereal effects of the sea and the sky. During the 1860s, as Parisians in increasing numbers descended on the towns of Deauville, Trouville, Honfleur, and Le Havre, he depicted them in their latest fashions. Here, the crinolines of the female figures are just hinted at as they sit in their cropped white jackets and light-colored beachwear, while the men are dressed in black with straw hats. Boudin’s sensitive palette, “a veritable history of the sky,” as the painter Camille Corot once called it, describes the warmth of the setting sun and the calm sea.

Born in Normandy in the port city of Honfleur to a sea captain and a chambermaid, the young Boudin abandoned his career at sea early on and began work at a stationery store. He established his own shop at the age of eighteen and, in addition to the regular stock, sold sketchbooks and paper for pastels and exhibited artworks in the windows. Thus began his engagement with contemporary artists such as Jean-François Millet and Constant Troyon, who exhibited there, as well as the young Monet, who probably came through his doors as early as 1856 and whom Boudin encouraged to go outside and paint.

2024
Provenance: [Wildenstein & Co., New York]. The Hon. and Mrs. R. F. Watson, London, consigned on or about 10 June 1952 to; [Arthur Tooth Gallery, London].(1) [Sam Salz (1894–1981), Inc., New York, in 1952].(2) Matilda “Tillie” Schwartz Goldman (1906–2001), New York.(3) Private collection, New York. [Coe Kerr Gallery Inc., New York, sold 26 March 1982 to]; A. J. Perenchio (1930–2017), Los Angeles, gifted 2025 to; Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Footnotes
(1) According to Arthur Tooth & Sons, London Branch Consignments, 1932–1959, Box 21, consignment no. 8499. At this point there is no information on whether the painting was absorbed into Tooth stock or sold. The Tooth & Sons stock no. 2863 is cited by Coe Kerr Gallery Inc. in the owner’s object file. This stock number was not found in The Getty Research Institute’s holdings of the Arthur Tooth & Sons stock inventories and accounts, 1871–1959, which is incomplete. Additional records are held in a private collection and not accessible.
(2) Date according to Coe Kerr Gallery Inc. in owner’s object file.
(3) According to Coe Kerr Gallery Inc. in owner’s object file. Charles Goldman (1902–1966), a New York manufacturer and philanthropist, and his wife Matilda (“Tillie”) Schwartz Goldman had an extensive collection of French Impressionist paintings as well as Old Master drawings, American paintings, antiquities, and African artworks.
Selected Bibliography: Lehmbeck, Leah, ed. Impressionist and Modern Art: The A. Jerrold Perenchio Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich: DelMonico Books/Prestel, 2016.
Copyright: photo © Fredrik Nilsen

Eugène-Louis Boudin
Scene on the Beach at Trouville, Sunset1867

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Artist or Maker: Eugène-Louis Boudin
France, Honfleur, 1824-1898
Title: Scene on the Beach at Trouville, Sunset
Culture: French
Date Made: 1867
Medium: Oil on panel
Dimensions: Panel: 11 × 18 1/2 in. (27.94 × 46.99 cm) Frame: 20 3/8 × 27 5/8 × 3 in. (51.75 × 70.17 × 7.62 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of A. Jerrold Perenchio
Accession Number: M.2025.64.9
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: European Painting and Sculpture
Curatorial Notes: Eugène Boudin’s paintings of the sea, the sky, and Parisians at their summer escapes on the Norman coast, exquisitely rendered in such panels as Scene on the Beach at Trouville, Sunset, secured his critical reputation. Over the course of his four-decade career, he made thousands of oils, watercolors, and drawings on the coast where the river Seine meets the English Channel, developing a luminous style that positioned him as a precursor to Impressionism. Claude Monet recorded his debt to the elder Norman painter on several occasions: “I have said it before and I will repeat it: I owe everything to Boudin, and I am grateful to him for my success.” Largely self-taught, Boudin worked on the coast, focusing mainly on the ethereal effects of the sea and the sky. During the 1860s, as Parisians in increasing numbers descended on the towns of Deauville, Trouville, Honfleur, and Le Havre, he depicted them in their latest fashions. Here, the crinolines of the female figures are just hinted at as they sit in their cropped white jackets and light-colored beachwear, while the men are dressed in black with straw hats. Boudin’s sensitive palette, “a veritable history of the sky,” as the painter Camille Corot once called it, describes the warmth of the setting sun and the calm sea.

Born in Normandy in the port city of Honfleur to a sea captain and a chambermaid, the young Boudin abandoned his career at sea early on and began work at a stationery store. He established his own shop at the age of eighteen and, in addition to the regular stock, sold sketchbooks and paper for pastels and exhibited artworks in the windows. Thus began his engagement with contemporary artists such as Jean-François Millet and Constant Troyon, who exhibited there, as well as the young Monet, who probably came through his doors as early as 1856 and whom Boudin encouraged to go outside and paint.

2024
Provenance: [Wildenstein & Co., New York]. The Hon. and Mrs. R. F. Watson, London, consigned on or about 10 June 1952 to; [Arthur Tooth Gallery, London].(1) [Sam Salz (1894–1981), Inc., New York, in 1952].(2) Matilda “Tillie” Schwartz Goldman (1906–2001), New York.(3) Private collection, New York. [Coe Kerr Gallery Inc., New York, sold 26 March 1982 to]; A. J. Perenchio (1930–2017), Los Angeles, gifted 2025 to; Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Footnotes
(1) According to Arthur Tooth & Sons, London Branch Consignments, 1932–1959, Box 21, consignment no. 8499. At this point there is no information on whether the painting was absorbed into Tooth stock or sold. The Tooth & Sons stock no. 2863 is cited by Coe Kerr Gallery Inc. in the owner’s object file. This stock number was not found in The Getty Research Institute’s holdings of the Arthur Tooth & Sons stock inventories and accounts, 1871–1959, which is incomplete. Additional records are held in a private collection and not accessible.
(2) Date according to Coe Kerr Gallery Inc. in owner’s object file.
(3) According to Coe Kerr Gallery Inc. in owner’s object file. Charles Goldman (1902–1966), a New York manufacturer and philanthropist, and his wife Matilda (“Tillie”) Schwartz Goldman had an extensive collection of French Impressionist paintings as well as Old Master drawings, American paintings, antiquities, and African artworks.
Selected Bibliography: Lehmbeck, Leah, ed. Impressionist and Modern Art: The A. Jerrold Perenchio Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich: DelMonico Books/Prestel, 2016.