The Quay at Antwerp

Billowing white clouds and the steeples and smokestacks of the bustling Belgian city of Antwerp are reflected in the shimmering waters of the harbor. Eugène Boudin pioneered painting out of doors, where he could directly observe nature. His sketches and finished landscapes prompted the 19th–century art critic Charles Baudelaire to comment that "one can guess the season, the hour and the wind from Boudin's studies." The impressionists recognized the artist's attention to atmosphere and light as an important model.