Tarring the Boat (Le Bateau goudronné)

Édouard Manet

Oil on canvas

Barnes Foundation

Painted in August 1873 during Manet's visit to Berck-sur-Mer, a fishing village on the English Channel coast of northern France, this oil on canvas depicts workers applying flaming tar to the hull of a beached fishing boat to protect it from moisture. An anchor in the foreground draws the eye toward the central vessel, whose mast and rigging angle upward against a spare sky, while the burning pitch emits dark smoke that contrasts dramatically with the gleaming black hull and the sandy, muted tones of the beach. Manet, a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism, renders the boat with careful attention to material reality while treating the laboring figures with a looser, more gestural touch—a duality that scholars have identified as characteristic of his technique during this period. The painting exemplifies Manet's sustained interest in maritime subjects and his practice of painting modern working life en plein air during summer coastal retreats.