Description: Born in the northern French coastal town of Honfleur, Eugène Boudin grew up observing the various weather conditions unique to the harbors and beaches along the Normandy coast. He constantly traveled along the French coastline, sketching and painting the fashionable seaside resorts and ocean vistas that he encountered. Boudin would become one of France’s most highly regarded marine painters, and his highly original seascapes were nearly always in demand. He produced much of his work en plein air, painting in the open air, an approach he introduced to his informal student and life-long friend, Claude Monet.
Boudin eventually sought inspiration beyond his native France and frequently traveled to Venice. He was less interested in the canals, architecture, or picturesque decrepitude that attracted so many other artists to Venice than in the miracle of a city that seemed to float on water. In most of his Venetian subjects, Boudin drew back and took a long view of his subject. In his late work, Venice, Santa Maria della Salute and the Custom-House, the dome of the venerable basilica rises powerfully out of a watery foreground and into a hazy Venetian sky.