Eugène Boudin

Vente : Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Vente Boudin, 19 avril 1888, lot 48
Vente : Galeries Georges Petit, Paris, 9 Mars 1900, lot 1
Auguste Rousseau, Paris (acquis lors de la vente précédente)
Vente : Sotheby's, Londres, 2 juillet 1969, lot 5
Collection particulière
Vente : Sotheby's, Londres, 26 mars 1980, lot 10
Acquis lors de cette vente par le propriétaire actuel

Paris, Galerie Schmit, Eugène Boudin 1824-1898, 1965, no. 64
Den Bosch, Noordbrabants Museum, A feast of Colour. Post-Impressionists from private collections, 1990, illustré p. 54-55

Georges Jean-Aubry, Eugène Boudin. La vie et l'œuvre d'après les lettres et les documents inédits, Neuchâtel, 1968, (titré Etaples, la Canche à marée basse, et daté 1883), illustré p. 211
Robert Schmit, Eugène Boudin, 1824-1898, Paris, 1973, vol. II, no. 2154, illustré p. 321

The canvas is not lined. There is no evidence of retouching under ultra-violet light. This work is in very good original condition.
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signed 'E Boudin', dated '1886'  and inscribed 'Etaples' (lower right). Painted in 1886.

Etaples. La Canche est remarquable de sensibilité et exemplaire de la capacité de Boudin à saisir la vie des ports de pêche. A cet égard, Vivien Hamilton a justement fait remarquer que "l'enjeu artistique du sujet n'était pas seulement la représentation du mouvement, de la couleur et de la lumière mais aussi l'intégration de la figure humaine dans le paysage. Dans les plus belles de ces vues, les scènes et les jeux de mer vibrent sous l'effet de subtiles nuances de lumières, couleurs, ombres et mouvements, où petites et fulgurantes touches de couleur pure animent simultanément la surface et confèrent à l'ensemble une incomparable harmonie" (Vivien Hamilton, Boudin at Trouville, London, 1992, p. 63). Prenant le parti de peindre essentiellement sur le motif, ses compositions ont la fraicheur de l'intuition et de l'instantané. Dans ces carnets, en effet il note : "Plages. Les représenter d'après nature, le plus possible...les choses prises  sur le vif ou faites d'après les impressions les plus récentes peuvent être considérées comme des peintures directes" (cité in Gustave Cahen, Eugène Boudin, sa vie et son œuvre, Paris, 1900, p. 183). Avec Etaples. La Canche, Boudin démontre avec brio sa maîtrise des couleurs et de la lumière et son sens de l'harmonie picturale.

In Etaples. La Canche the artist exhibits his exceptional qualities as an observer and recorder of the life of a fishing port. Vivien Hamilton wrote: "The artistic challenge presented by the subject was not only the representation of movement, colour and light but also the successful incorporation of the human figure into the landscape. At their best, the beach scenes vibrate with subtle nuances of light colour, shade and movement, tiny and hasty specks of pure colour simultaneously dramatizing the surface and bringing the whole into harmony" (V. Hamilton, Boudin at Trouville, London, 1992, p. 63). The artist's decision to paint mainly outdoors enabled him to endow his work with intuitive immediacy and freshness. Boudin wrote in his notebook: "Beaches. Produce them from nature as far as is possible ... things done on the spot or based on a very recent impression can be considered as direct paintings" (quoted in Gustave Cahen, Eugène Boudin, sa vie et son oeuvre, Paris, 1900, p. 183). In the present painting, Boudin brilliantly combines his mastery of colour and light with his sense of pictorial harmony to create an exceptional composition.