Le quai du Havre

Boudin wrote the day on it. Beside the signature at the lower right the panel carries 87 and 20 octobre, so this is one day in the docks at Le Havre rather than a general impression of them. He did that routinely, putting dates and sometimes the weather onto his studies, because what he was recording was a particular state of light and water. Le Havre in 1887 was the French end of the transatlantic run to New York, and its basins held steamers and sailing ships together. Boudin knew the place from the inside. His father worked on the Le Havre to Honfleur boat and Boudin served on it as a boy before he ever picked up a brush. He was 63 when he painted this, selling steadily through Paul Durand-Ruel, the dealer who had been taking his canvases since 1881.