Eugène Louis Boudin, July 12, 1824 – August 8, 1898, was a French painter best known for marine subjects, coastal landscapes, and open-air studies of the sky and sea. He was born in Honfleur, Normandy, where his father worked as a harbor pilot and sailor. After working in a stationery and framing shop that served local artists, Boudin began painting and received encouragement from several established painters, including Jean-François Millet. He studied in Paris and at the Louvre while maintaining close ties to the Normandy coast.

Boudin became known for scenes of beaches, harbors, fishing communities, and fashionable seaside resorts. He was an early practitioner of painting outdoors, producing numerous oil sketches directly from nature. His studies of changing weather and atmospheric effects influenced younger artists, most notably Claude Monet, whom he encouraged to paint outdoors. Although associated with the development of Impressionism, Boudin maintained an independent artistic identity throughout his career and regularly exhibited at the Paris Salon as well as the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874.

Boudin did not establish a formal school of pupils, but his influence on Monet and other landscape painters was significant. His work is held in major collections including the Louvre, Paris; the Musée d’Orsay, Paris; the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown.

Eugène Boudin, c 1890s

The Beach at Villerville, 1864
Oil on canvas, 17.9 x 30 in
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Camaret, the Jetty, 1873
Oil on canvas, 21.5 x 35.3 in
Private Collection

The Coast of Portrieux, Côtes-du-Nord, 1874
Oil on canvas, 33.4 x 58.2 in
Private Collection

Le Havre, The Port, 1884
Oil on panel, 12.7 x 16.1 in
Brooklyn Museum, New York

Near Trouville, Path under Trees, c 1880–1885
Oil on canvas
Private Collection

The Berck Dunes, 1886
Oil on canvas, 19.9 x 29.5 in
Private Collection

Deauville, on the Jetty, 1889
Oil on canvas, 13 x 16.5 in
Private Collection

Study of Sky, c 1888–1895
Oil
Musée Malraux, Le Havre

Venice, Santa Maria della Salute from San Giorgio, 1895
Oil on canvas, 18.2 x 25.7 in
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Rue Saint-Romain, Rouen, 1895
Oil on panel, 18.1 x 14.6 in
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown

Gale before Frascati, Le Havre, 1896
Oil on canvas, 37.4 x 50.7 in
City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts, Paris

Berck, Fishermen at Low Tide
Oil on canvas