Eugene Boudin
(1824-1898)
Eugene Boudin, one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors, was born on July 12, 1824. He was born in Trouville, France, and in his youth he worked in his father's small art shop where Claude Monet displayed his art works. There he got acquainted with the artists working in the area and who exhibited their paintings in the shop. They were Constant Troyon and Jean-Franзois Millet, who, with Thomas Couture encouraged young Boudin to take up an artistic career. At the age of 22 he gave up commerce, started painting full-time, and travelled to Paris the following year. In 1850 he earned a scholarship which enabled him to move to Paris, although he often returned to paint in Normandy. From 1855, Boudin made regular trips to Brittany. The Dutch painter Johan Jongkind advised Boudin to paint outdoors. Jongkind influenced the artist greatly. Eugene Boudin made his debut at the 1859 Paris Salon. In 1857 Boudin met the young Claude Monet who spent several months working with Boudin in his studio. Boudin exhibited his paintings at the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874. Boudin’s growing reputation enabled him to travel extensively in the 1870s. He visited Belgium, the Netherlands and southern France, and from 1892 to 1895 made regular trips to Venice. Late in his life suffering from an incurable illness he returned to the south of France where he had spent his childhood. Boudin died on August 8, 1898.
