Lot 1566 D α

The sunny atmosphere of this coastal scene is reminscent of works painted by Edouard Manet and Eugène Boudin in the 1870s on the beach of Berck-sur-Mer. These compositions are characterised by the ochre colour used for the sand, the water, horizon, and typical long, black boats of Normandy which define the pictorial space. The figures grouped around the boats in these works are usually not fishers, but city tourists, and here we see gentlemen wearing fashionable hats and ladies putting up parasols. The motif of a recumbent man with his back to the beholder is a frequently reoccurring motif in these works, and is a reference to Manet's "Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe".

Verso inv. no. 553.