Beaulieu, La baie de Fourmis

This sunlit coastal scene captures the Bay of Fourmis at Beaulieu-sur-Mer on the French Riviera, painted by Eugène Boudin, an artist who spent his life devoted to painting water, sky, and shore. Boudin was a master of capturing fleeting atmospheric effects, and here you can see his talent at work in the way the Mediterranean blue deepens as it stretches toward the horizon, while small sailing vessels dot the distance. The rocky coastline curves gently around the bay, lined with red-roofed houses nestled against the protective mountains behind them.

Boudin is often called one of the first French landscape painters to work outdoors, and his dedication to painting directly from nature influenced a young Claude Monet, who considered him a mentor. While the Impressionists would later become more famous, Boudin quietly perfected his own approach to capturing light and weather with quick, confident brushstrokes. This painting shows his characteristic attention to the relationship between land, sea, and sky, treating each element with equal care. The scene feels both immediate and peaceful, like a pleasant afternoon captured in paint before the light changes.