Vente Troyes, Boisseau Pomez - Ivoire France, 28 janvier 2017, lot 213

Galerie Éric Coatalem, Paris

Galerie de la Présidence, Paris

Acquis auprès de cette dernière par l'actuel propriétaire le 10 mars 2018

Collection Louis Grandchamp des Raux

Paris, Galerie Éric Coatalem, Œuvres sur papier & esquisses 2017, 2017, reproduit

Cette œuvre sera incluse dans le Catalogue Raisonné des œuvres sur papier d'Eugène Boudin (1824-1898) actuellement en préparation.

Un courrier de Manuel Schmit sera remis à l'acquéreur.

Cette œuvre est répertoriée dans ses archives sous la référence « B-P.7576- Ciel // E-17.04.04-1.V ».

With its quick and ethereal nature, pastel allowed Boudin to transmit the most fleeting of impressions. The malleability of the medium made it possible to follow the ever-changing clouds and their luminous effects. The great importance the painter gave to the skies in his seascapes and landscapes led to numerous studies of the subject in pastel.

Our work shows a deep azure sky where the blue breaks through the clouds with brilliance. This atmospheric study occupies the bulk of the composition; the sea is depicted by a pattern of darker lines in the lower section. “Le roi des ciels”, as Corot so aptly described Boudin, displays his mastery here in the poetic representation of this expanse, which is always shifting and constantly renewing itself. Boudin himself admitted that these landscapes and seascapes were merely pretexts for depicting the sky, the true subject of his works. A forerunner of the Impressionists, he took part in the movement’s first exhibition held at the photographer Nadar’s studio in 1874. And Claude Monet, whom he met in 1856, was always grateful to Boudin for having been the one who encouraged him to paint outdoors.

During Boudin’s lifetime, his pastels were presented in numerous exhibitions (Paul Durand-Ruel exhibited 216 pastels by Boudin in his gallery in 1891) and at auction. The artist himself remarked, following a sale at Drouot on 25 March 1868, that his “pastels, so difficult to have accepted, were almost all purchased by other painters”.

Among the buyers were Alexandre Dumas-fils, Constant Troyon and Camille Corot.