Pres de Quimper (oil on panel)

This is one of a number of naturalistic studies that Boudin made in the environs of Quimper, a small town situated at the mouth of the Oder estuary in Finisterre, Brittany, where he was a regular visitor in the mid-late 1850s. The waterside scene has the luminosity and sensation of breeziness for which he became renowned. Although the surface of the water is barely ruffled, the tall trees and marginal plants seem to sway gently, suggested by the restless fair weather clouds reflected in it. A small figure standing in front of the prominent cottage centre-right, and cows grazing centre-left, add a lively sense of scale. Born in Honfleur, the son of a ship's captain, Boudin spent much of his career painting on the coast of Normandy, capturing the changing effects of light on water. His experimental treatment of light and atmosphere was influential for the development of Impressionism, but he drew inspiration from it too. He used a more subdued palette than many of the young Impressionists, however, which ensured that his work was more readily acceptable, particularly to audiences in Britain. Boudin exhibited regularly at the Salon from 1863 to 1897, and at the First Impressionist Exhibition of 1874.