Beaulieu: The Bay of Fourmis

Eugène Boudin

Oil on canvas

Metropolitan Museum of Art

This luminous coastal view captures the sun-drenched shores of Beaulieu-sur-Mer on the French Riviera, where pastel-hued villas nestle beneath rugged hills and a tranquil bay stretches toward distant sailboats. Eugène Boudin, celebrated as a forerunner of Impressionism and mentor to the young Claude Monet, renders the scene with his signature loose, feathery brushwork and keen attention to atmospheric light. The painting reflects Boudin's lifelong devotion to capturing the fleeting effects of sky and sea, a pursuit that led him to spend his later years painting along the Mediterranean coast. Its soft palette and serene composition would bring a gentle, sun-washed elegance to any wall.