Le Havre. The Eure Basin

Eugène Boudin grew up in Le Havre, the son of a harbor pilot, and by 1885 that harbor had become one of France's great gateways, the port where steamers left for New York while cotton and coffee came in. He is best remembered for the fashionable crowds on the beaches at Trouville and Deauville, painted under his enormous skies. Here he turned to the working water of his own city, the Eure basin, a dock in the heart of the growing port. Masts and funnels crowd the quays, and the real subject, as so often with Boudin, sits overhead. Corot called him the king of skies, and the wide grey weather over the basin does more of the work than any single ship. He was 61, painting the place he had known since boyhood.