The Port of Deauville

Artist Eugène Boudin (French, 1824 - 1898)

Dateca. 1884

MediumOil on panel

DimensionsUnframed: 10 1/8 × 13 3/4 × 1/4 inches (25.72 × 34.93 × 0.64 cm)
Framed: 15 3/8 × 18 5/8 × 1 3/4 inches (39.05 × 47.31 × 4.45 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number33-14/1

Signedan abraded signature at lower right has been read as "E. Boudin. 1884"

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

European Art

Terms

DescriptionGroup of sailing vessels and tugs in the harbor of Deauville.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Possibly French Impressionist Landscape Painting, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, November 29–December 30, 1936, hors. cat.

Landscapes of the European War Theatre, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, January 1–February 15, 1944, no cat.

Gallery Label

Born in a fishing village on the Normandy coast, Eugène Boudin specialized in depicting marine subjects. This panel records the harbor at Deauville, a popular resort town where he built a home in 1884. Probably the most famous painter of the sea and shore in the 19th century, Boudin is perhaps best remembered for being Claude Monet's first instructor. Taking note of the artist around 1858, Boudin encouraged Monet to work outdoors, directly from nature. His emphasis on studying the changing effects of light and atmosphere on clouds, sky and water proved formative for Monet's career. Though Boudin exhibited with the Impressionists only once, in 1874, the rapid, energetic brushwork and sketchlike absence of detail in works such as this reveal his close association with the group.

Provenance

Purchased from the artist by Durand-Ruel et Cie, Paris, stock no. 448, as Le Port de d’Eauville, March 30, 1888–February 10, 1933 [1];

Purchased from Durand-Ruel, Inc., New York, by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1933 [2].

NOTES:

[1] The painting was transferred from Durand-Ruel’s Paris branch to their New York branch in October 1888. See email from Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel and Flavie Durand-Ruel, Durand-Ruel et Cie, to Nicole Myers, NAMA, January 11, 2016, NAMA curatorial files. Durand-Ruel photo no. A. 4; see photo stock card, Eugène Boudin, Landscapes and marines: Ch-De, Durand-Ruel NY Archives, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C. See also pink label on verso of panel that says: “Boudin No. 448 / Port [de d’]Eauville/ 1884.”

[2] The painting was shipped by Durand-Ruel to NAMA on February 6, 1933. See letter from Edwin C. Holston, Durand-Ruel et Cie, to William Rockhill Nelson Museum of Art, February 6, 1933, NAMA curatorial files.

Published References

“Nelson Gallery of Art Special Number,” Art Digest 8, no. 5 (December 1, 1933): 21, as Port of Deuville [sic].

"The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City Special Number," Art News 32, no. 10 (December 9, 1933): 30.

The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Handbook of the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1933), 53, 136, (repro.), as Port of Deuville [sic].

A. J. Philpott, "Kansas City Now in Art Center Class," Boston Sunday Globe 125, no. 14 (January 14, 1934): 16.

M[inna] K. P[owell], "Cezanne and the Patches of Color by Which He Transformed Modern Art," Kansas City Star 54, no. 120 (January 15, 1934): [16]D, as Port of Deuville [sic].

Possibly “A Thrill to Art Expert: M. Jamot is Generous in his Praise of Nelson Gallery,” Kansas City Times 97, no. 247 (October 15, 1934): 7.

Ellen Josephine Green, “The Fine Arts,” Musical Bulletin 23, no. 2 (November 1934): 7, as The Port of Deauville.

Possibly M[inna] K. P[owell], “In Gallery and Studio: News and Views of the Week in Art,” Kansas City Star 57, no. 71 (November 27, 1936): 34.

Possibly “Exhibition of French Impressionist Landscape Paintings,” News Flashes (The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Atkins Museum of Fine Arts) 3, no. 2 (December 1, 1936): 2.

Ruth L. Benjamin, Eugène Boudin (New York: Raymond and Raymond, 1936), 188, as Port of Deauville.

The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, The William Rockhill Nelson Collection, 2nd ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1941), 167, as Port of Deauville.

“Temporary Exhibitions: Landscapes of the European War Theatre,” Gallery News (The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts) 10, no. 5 (January 1944): 1.

H. C. H., “Scenes of Old Europe: Nelson Gallery Presents a Continent As It was,” Kansas City Times 107, no. 6 (January 7, 1944): 4.

Ross E. Taggart, ed., Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 4th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1959), 260, as Port of Deauville.

Robert Schmit, Eugène Boudin, 1824–1898 (Paris: Robert Schmit, 1973), no. 1809, pp. 2:197, 3:CIX, CXXII, CXLIII, (repro.), as Deauville. Le Bassin.

Ross E. Taggart and George L. McKenna, eds., Handbook of the Collections in The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, vol. 1, Art of the Occident, 5th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1973), 257, as Port of Deauville.

Possibly Gilbert de Knyff, Eugène Boudin raconté par lui-même: sa vie, son atelier, son œuvre (Paris: Éditions Mayer, 1976), 237.

Richard R. Brettell and Joachim Pissarro, Manet to Matisse: Impressionist Masters from the Marion and Henry Bloch Collection, exh. cat. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2007), 38, 40, (repro.), as The Port of Deauville.

Laura Spencer, “The Nelson-Atkins’ Bloch Galleries Feature Old Masterworks and New Technology,” KCUR (March 10, 2017): http://kcur.org/post/nelson-atkins-bloch-galleries-feature-old-masterworks-and-new-technology#stream/0, (repro.).

Louise Nicholson, “How Kansas City got its magnificent museum,” Apollo: The International Art Magazine (April 7, 2017): https://www.apollo-magazine.com/how-kansas-city-got-its-magnificent-museum/.

Brigid M. Boyle, “Eugène Boudin, The Port of Deauville, ca. 1884, and Boats Decorated with Flags in the Port of Deauville, 1895,” catalogue entry in French Paintings and Pastels, 1600–1945: The Collections of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, ed. Aimee Marcereau DeGalan (Kansas City: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2022), https://doi.org/10.37764/78973.5.606.5407.

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