Galerie Paul Prouté

Eugène Boudin was born in Honfleur in 1824. He began to take an interest in drawing during his teenage years, although his father, a merchant seaman, encouraged him to start working at a very young age. At the age of 20, he opened a stationery and framing business, which allowed him to meet many artists. In 1848, determined to develop his talents as a painter, he discovered Flemish and Dutch art during a trip to Northern Europe. Three years later, thanks to a scholarship from the city of Le Havre, he moved to Paris, where he continued his artistic training in the studio of the painter Eugène Isabey. Beginning in 1855, he made numerous trips to Brittany, where he devoted himself to painting seascapes and beach scenes that brought him a certain degree of fame. Starting in the late 1850s, he regularly exhibited his works at the Salon; then, in 1886, on the occasion of the first Impressionist exhibition across the Atlantic, Paul Durand-Ruel presented his works in New York. This period marked the beginning of Boudin’s official recognition, as several of his paintings were purchased by the French government. In 1889, he even received a gold medal at the World’s Fair. In poor health, he died in Deauville a decade later, in August 1898.