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The Sea Off the Edge of a Boat, Brittany

Georges Lacombe

1894

charcoal

From the collection of National Gallery of Art

Impressionism Realism Late 19th Century

Dominant colour

The Sea Off the Edge of a Boat, Brittany is a 1894 charcoal by Georges Lacombe, a Impressionism work, held at National Gallery of Art.

Who painted this?: Georges Lacombe
When & what style?: 1894 · Impressionism
Where can I see it?: National Gallery of Art

About this work

This sketch shows wavy lines of water and a boat’s edge cutting through the scene. The paper is blue, and the charcoal lines are rough, almost like quick strokes. You can see the boat’s side and some waves crashing around it. The artist used lots of small, overlapping lines to build up the texture of the water. It looks like they were working fast, capturing movement instead of details. Check out scumbling to see how artists create texture with loose strokes like this.