Boats Decorated with Flags in the Port of Deauville, 1875. Eugène Boudin. Oil on mahogany panel. Gift of Henry W. and Marion H. Bloch.
As a regatta (boat race) unfolded, Eugène Boudin recorded the festively decorated boats in the foreground, but this painting’s true subject is movement. Twisting flags, rippling water, and rowing oarsmen are deftly conveyed through small, energetic strokes and wet-on-wet brushwork.
Each August, Boudin stayed with his family in small towns on the Normandy coast and painted life on the seafront, such as these colorful regattas.
