Seascape with Open Sky

Sky rules this painting, filling almost the whole canvas with fluffy clouds that scatter across a pale blue expanse. Down at the bottom, the sea sits calm and low, with a single sailboat catching the light near the right edge. Eugène Boudin painted scenes like this so often that friends and admirers called him the "King of the Skies." A young Claude Monet learned from him directly, and later gave Boudin credit for opening his eyes to painting outdoors and looking honestly at nature.

Boudin made this seascape in 1880 along the coast of Normandy, where he liked to set up his easel right on the beach and work with the shifting weather in front of him. Nothing much happens in the scene, just open air, water, and the quiet feeling of an afternoon by the sea. That plainness was exactly what he was after. His quick, airy brushstrokes catch the soft movement of clouds on the breeze, and his ability to find something worth painting in an ordinary day helped lay the groundwork for the Impressionists who followed him.