The Beach at Trouville, the Empress Eugénie

In 1863 the railway had just reached Trouville on the Normandy coast, and Parisians arrived by the trainload, turning a fishing town into a fashionable summer resort. Boudin, who had grown up nearby, saw a subject almost no one had painted: the beach itself, crowded with holidaymakers in their good clothes, parasols and wide skirts arranged across the open sand. Among the visitors that season was the Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, and she sits here among the figures on this small panel. Boudin worked outdoors and quickly, catching the gestures and costumes of each person with short, exact touches, while the sky takes up much of the picture. Sir William Burrell bought this beach scene along with another view of Trouville, and gave both to the city of Glasgow in 1944.