Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere

British, died 1940

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A row of about a dozen men and women sit, stand, or stroll along a sandy beach beneath a pale blue sky in this horizontal landscape painting. The scene is loosely painted so many of the facial features and other details are indistinct. The women wear dresses with long sleeves and skirts in shades of charcoal gray, parchment brown, vivid red, sapphire blue, or white. Five of them shade themselves with black parasols, and a woman to the right uses a white parasol with a topaz-blue interior. The men wear dark suits and straw-yellow hats. Another group of people clustered closer to the water to the right are even more loosely painted. A few people seem to wade out into the water, and dark smudges near the horizon suggest sailboats and one steamer. The horizon comes about two-thirds of the way up this composition, and the water and sky are similar tones of muted, ice blue. The artist signed the lower left corner, “E. Boudin.”
Eugène Boudin, The Beach, 1877, oil on wood, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.14

The Beach

Eugène Boudin · 1877 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1970.17.14

Eight men, women, and children stand or sit in straight-backed, wooden chairs gathered along a sandy beach near low, gently breaking waves with sailboats floating in the ocean beyond in this horizontal landscape painting. The scene is loosely painted throughout, making much of the detail indistinct. Most of the people sit with their backs to us but the faces we can see suggest they have light skin. The people gather in a loose crowd that spans the left half of the composition, except for one woman wearing white and holding a blue parasol who sits to the right. The women wear long dresses with full skirts in shades of black, aquamarine or arctic blue, or snowy white. They all wear straw-colored hats with royal-blue bands. The three men also wear hats and suits in black or pecan brown. Two women, in addition to the one sitting alone, hold up blue parasols. One child wears a white dress and hat, and the other wears shades of blue and a straw hat with a red band. A white dog with brown spots stands on our side of the chairs near a woman and the child wearing white. One tall, wooden pole with a blue banner rises high above the crowd near the left edge of the composition, and another with a red pennant is farther back to the right. Between the group and the water, a person rides a brown horse, several women walk, and two children play in the sand. A rowboat is near the breaking waves and five white sailboats line the horizon, which comes about a quarter of the way up this painting. A steamship leaves a line of muted lilac-purple smoke in the deep distance to the right. A blanket of pale gray clouds cover much of the bright blue sky. The artist signed the lower right corner, “E. Boudin.”
Eugène Boudin, Beach at Trouville, 1864/1865, oil on wood, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.12

Beach at Trouville

Eugène Boudin · 1864/1865 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1970.17.12

Bibliography

1932

  • Konody, P.G. Works of Art in the colection of Viscount Rothermere. London, privately printed, 1932.