Artwork
Women on the Beach at Berck
Women on the Beach at Berck is an oil painting by the Impressionist artist Eugène Louis Boudin. It dates from 1881 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:lower left: E. Boudin.81 / Berck
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The work focuses on the presence of these specific social types within a natural coastal setting, emphasizing their environment over individual portraiture.
The painting depicts a group of women of low social standing gathered on the beach in the French town of Berck. Created during a sunny day, the scene captures these figures with indistinct contours, resulting in a generally blurred representation rather than sharp definition. The work focuses on the presence of these specific social types within a natural coastal setting, emphasizing their environment over individual portraiture. The artist's signature is located in the lower left corner of the composition.
Technique & Style
Women on the Beach at Berck is executed in oil on wood, with the painted panel measuring 24.8 cm in height and 36.2 cm in width. The composition depicts a group of women of modest social standing on the beach at the French town of Berck during a sunny day. The contours of the figures are not sharply defined, and the overall rendering appears soft and somewhat blurred, consistent with Boudin's plein-air approach to coastal subjects. The artist signed the work in the lower left.
The painting is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., having entered the institution as a gift in 1970.
History & Provenance
Eugène Boudin created Women on the Beach at Berck in 1881. The work was executed for the impressionist collector Albert Pontremoli, a cousin of the architect Emmanuel Pontremoli. Following Pontremoli's death in Paris in 1923, his collection, which included this painting, was auctioned in London and Paris in 1924.
The painting previously belonged to Adolphe A. Tavernier in Paris and was sold at his sale by Bernheim-Jeune on 23 March 1903. It was later acquired by Albert Pontremoli and sold at Christie's, London, on 23 June 1906, before being purchased by Bernheim-Jeune in Paris. The work subsequently entered the collection of Jacques Lindon in New York.
On 4 February 1947, it was sold to Ailsa Mellon Bruce in New York. In 1970, Bruce gifted the painting to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Women on the Beach at Berck is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., having been gifted to the institution in 1970 by Ailsa Mellon Bruce. Bruce acquired the painting on February 4, 1947, from Jacques Lindon of New York. Prior to this, the work passed through the collections of Adolphe A. Tavernier in Paris and Albert Pontremoli in London.
It appeared at Tavernier's sale in Paris on March 23, 1903, and was subsequently sold following Pontremoli's estate at Christie's in London on June 23, 1906, where it was purchased by the dealership Bernheim-Jeune.
Overview
Eugène Boudin’s 1881 work Women on the Beach at Berck is executed in oil on a wooden panel. The composition captures a tranquil shoreline scene, where a small group of women in modest, long garments stand facing the sea. The painting emphasizes the atmospheric conditions of the coast rather than narrative detail, presenting a quiet moment of observation.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
Artist
Eugène Louis Boudin (French: ; 12 July 1824 – 8 August 1898) was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors.
