Eugène Boudin
French, 1824–1898
Dunkerque
1889
The sky dominates this view of Dunkerque, a busy port in Northern France where Boudin painted over a dozen seascapes. The sea is calm, but a breeze is blowing, dispersing the smoke and making the flags flutter on the ships’ mastheads. These subtle details reveal the artist’s fascination with capturing the effects of weather on a specific location.
| Medium | oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 14 3/8 x 23 1/16 in. (36.5 x 58.6 cm) Frame: 2 1/2 x 21 11/16 x 29 9/16 in. (6.4 x 55.1 x 75.1 cm) |
| Object Number | 1955.535 |
| Acquisition | Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955 |
| Status | Off View |
Image Caption
Eugène Boudin, Dunkerque, 1889, oil on canvas. Clark Art Institute, 1955.535
Select Bibliography
EUROPEAN PAINTINGS CATALOGUE ENTRY
Provenance
The artist, sold to Durand-Ruel, 9 Mar. 1891; [Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1891–92, sold to Widener, 6 Feb. 1892]; Peter Arrell Brown Widener, Philadelphia (1892–1907, sold to Durand-Ruel, 27 Feb. 1907); [Durand-Ruel, New York, 1907–40, sold to Clark, 2 Dec. 1940];¹ Robert Sterling Clark (1940–55); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955. 1. Ruth L. Benjamin (Eugène Boudin, 1937) p. 190, states that this work was in a private collection, Paris, some time after 1907, and further wrote in a 1958 letter in the Clark’s curatorial file that “this picture belonged to a private collection in Paris before Durand-Ruel bought it back.” Benjamin does not provide dates for this ownership, and there is no further known documentation for this history.
