Berck beach at low tide

Fishing boats sit high and dry on the sand at Berck, a village on the northern coast of France, where the sea has pulled back to reveal a wide stretch of beach. Eugène Boudin painted this scene in 1870, giving nearly half the canvas over to the sky, which fills with soft, drifting clouds above the tiny figures below. The fishermen and their families cluster near the wooden hulls, busy with the small tasks that made up their working days.

Boudin adored painting weather and open air so much that the older artist Camille Corot called him the "king of the skies." He spent his life along the coast, setting up outdoors to catch the light just as it fell across the water and sand. That approach left a real mark, because his young student Claude Monet learned from him to paint outside too. This calm beach picture sits right at the doorstep of Impressionism, which was only just getting started.

Nothing exciting happens here, and Boudin meant it that way. He found what he needed in a breezy afternoon, the quiet routine of a fishing village, and the endless shifting of clouds over the shore.