Boudin and the Portrieux
Eugène Boudin – Portrieux – 1874 – Budapest Magyar Nemzeti Galeria
(La maison rose avec à droite du tableau l’hôtel du Mouton Blanc.)
Eugène Boudin particularly appreciated this authentic little port for its simplicity.
He stayed here eleven times between 1868 and 1880. Almost 80 paintings, sketches and preparatory drawings have been catalogued (according to Schmidt’s catalog raisonné).
He mainly stayed at the Mouton Blanc, a hotel on the harbor where he was a regular guest.
Eugène Boudin chose his vantage points on the foreshore (just cross the road from the hotel), or from a height, seeking to capture the effects of light with the clouds, to which he gave ample space, as well as the reflections of the water.
In Portrieux, Boudin didn’t paint beach scenes as he did in Normandy, but rather the harbor shoreline, the sailors’ workplace with its large cod ships, and landscapes.
Bateaux et chevaux sur l’estran – Eugène Boudin – Southampton City Art Gallery © Bridgeman Images
Marché au Portrieux – Eugène Boudin – Musée du Louvre – Département des arts graphiques
Eugène Boudin – Paysage – Collection particulière –© Bridgeman images
The human activity around the terre-neuvas, the loading and unloading of these large boats, provides a magnificent illustration of the comings and goings in the port. We witness the departure and arrival of the boats.
In ‘Le retour d’un terre-neuvier’ (oil on canvas, 1875, National Gallery of Art, Washington), he documents the crowds milling around the boat stranded on the foreshore, unloading their luggage on their return from the great fishing grounds.
Here he captured a scene of life with women in headdresses bustling around the cart on the beach.
Dessin préparatoire pour le retour d’un terre-neuvier – Eugène Boudin
Retour d’un terre-neuvier –Eugène Boudin – Chester Dale collection – National Gallery of arts – Washington
Each painting of Portrieux, with similar compositions but different atmospheric variations, captured at almost the same spot, gives us details of port activity, with the movement of boats and their rigging to the rhythm of the tides, the work of fishermen, caulking, fishing on foot.
