Eugene-Louis Boudin

Honfleur – The Artists – Boudin, Eugene-Louis

This page forms part of a series of pages dedicated to the many artists who worked in Honfleur. A full list of all the artists with a link to their works can be found at the bottom of this page.

Eugene Louis Boudin
Eugene Louis Boudin

Movement(s): Impressionism

Eugene Louis Boudin (1824 – 1898) was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors. Boudin was a marine painter, and expert in the rendering of all that goes upon the sea and along its shores. His pastels, summary and economic, garnered the splendid eulogy of Baudelaire; and Corot called him the “King of the skies“.

Born at Honfleur, Boudin was the son of a harbor pilot, and at age 10 the young boy worked on a steamboat that ran between Le Havre and Honfleur. In 1835 the family moved to Le Havre, where Boudin’s father opened a store for stationery and picture frames. Here the young Eugene worked, later opening his own small shop. Boudin’s father had thus abandoned seafaring, and his son gave it up too, having no real vocation for it, though he preserved to his last days much of a sailor’s character: frankness, accessibility, and open-heartedness.

In his shop, in which pictures were framed, Boudin came into contact with artists working in the area and exhibited in the shop the paintings of Constant Troyon and Jean-François Millet, who, along with Jean-Baptiste Isabey and Thomas Couture whom he met during this time, encouraged young Boudin to follow an artistic career.

At the age of 22 he abandoned the world of commerce, started painting full-time, and travelled to Paris the following year and then through Flanders. In 1850 he earned a scholarship that enabled him to move to Paris, where he enrolled as a student in the studio of Eugene Isabey and worked as a copyist at the Louvre.

To supplement his income he often returned to paint in Normandy and, from 1855, made regular trips to Brittany. On 14 January 1863 he married the 28-year-old Breton woman Marie-Anne Guedes in Le Havre and set up home in Paris.

Dutch 17th-century masters profoundly influenced him, and on meeting the Dutch painter Johan Jongkind, who had already made his mark in French artistic circles, Boudin was advised by his new friend to paint outdoors (en plein air).

In 1857/58 Boudin befriended the young Claude Monet, then only 18, and persuaded him to give up his teenage caricature drawings and to become a landscape painter, helping to instil in him a love of bright hues and the play of light on water later evident in Monet’s Impressionist paintings. The two remained lifelong friends and Monet later paid tribute to Boudin’s early influence. Boudin joined Monet and his young friends in the first Impressionist exhibition in 1873, but never considered himself a radical or innovator.

Late in his life, after the death of his wife in 1889, Boudin spent every winter in the south of France as a refuge from his own ill-health, and from 1892 to 1895 made regular trips to Venice. In 1898, recognizing that his life was almost spent, he returned to his home at Deauville, to die on 8 August within sight of the English Channel and under the Channel skies he had painted so often.

He was buried according to his wishes in the Saint-Vincent Cemetery in Montmartre, Paris.

Click here to read Boudin’s full bio on Wikipedia.

NOTE: Click on any image below for a bigger version (no new window will open).

NOTE: A black box like this one, means that there is an explanation text about today’s situation of the painting above it.
NOTE: Click on this photo icon anywhere below a painting to see a photo of what the area looks like today.

NOTE: A blue box like this one, means there is an explanation or a note.

1853 - Eugene-Louis Boudin - Surroundings of Honfleur
1853 – Eugene-Louis Boudin – Surroundings of Honfleur
1854 - Eugene-Louis Boudin - Honfleur, the Cote de Grace
1854 – Eugene-Louis Boudin – Honfleur, the Cote de Grace

TODAY: The Cote de Grace of Honfleur, is a small area, on top of the hill that is well preserved with a great view of the Seine. It’s a 3 km walk from the city centre. It’s a place where many artists came to paint (including Claude Monet).

1854 - Eugene-Louis Boudin - Landscape near Honfleur
1854 – Eugene-Louis Boudin – Landscape near Honfleur
1854 - Eugene-Louis Boudin - Shore near Honfleur
1854 – Eugene-Louis Boudin – Shore near Honfleur
1854 - Eugene-Louis Boudin - Surroundings of Honfleur, low tide
1854 – Eugene-Louis Boudin – Surroundings of Honfleur, low tide
1856 - Eugene-Louis Boudin - Farm near Honfleur
1856 – Eugene-Louis Boudin – Farm near Honfleur
1860 - Eugene-Louis Boudin - Honfleur, the port
1860 – Eugene-Louis Boudin – Honfleur, the port
1860 - Eugene-Louis Boudin - Surroundings aof Honfleur
1860 – Eugene-Louis Boudin – Surroundings of Honfleur
1862 - Eugene-Louis Boudin -Party in the basin of Honfleur
1862 – Eugene-Louis Boudin -Party in the basin of Honfleur
1863 - Eugene-Louis Boudin -Honfleur, the Pier
1863 – Eugene-Louis Boudin – Honfleur, the Pier
1864 - Eugene-Louis Boudin -Pasture around Honfleur
1864 – Eugene-Louis Boudin -Pasture around Honfleur
1867 - Eugene-Louis Boudin - At the Saint Simeon farm (Jongkind, Emile van Marcke, Claude Monet and 'Father Achard'')
1867 – Eugene-Louis Boudin – At the Saint Simeon farm (Jongkind, Emile van Marcke, Claude Monet and ‘Father Achard”)

TODAY: The Saint-Simeon farm is a famous farm that was, and still is, a gathering point for artists. Today, it’s a 5 star luxury hotel/spa. Click here to access their website.

Click here to read our review of the Ferme Saint Simeon.

1890 - Eugene-Louis Boudin - Honfleur, the Cote de Grace
1890 – Eugene-Louis Boudin – Honfleur, the Cote de Grace
1897 - Eugene-Louis Boudin - Port of Honfleur
1897 – Eugene-Louis Boudin – Port of Honfleur
???? - Eugene-Louis Boudin - Fishermen on the shore around Honfleur
???? – Eugene-Louis Boudin – Fishermen on the shore around Honfleur
???? - Eugene-Louis Boudin - Honfleur, Leaving the Port
???? – Eugene-Louis Boudin – Honfleur, Leaving the Port
???? - Eugene-Louis Boudin - The Shore (Surroundings of Honfleur)
???? – Eugene-Louis Boudin – The Shore (Surroundings of Honfleur)

Boudin painted in several places in Normandy ( a link “” to his works will appear below for each city when published):

Honfleur was (and is) a very picturesque town, so it saw many artists capturing the beauty of this very scenic town. The reason it has so many tourists is obvious…. it’s very pretty. Here are some of the artists that have come to apply their art in the town (a link, symbolized by a ““, to the artist’s works will appear when published. A “*” indicates that the artist did not work directly in Honfleur but instead worked outside of Honfleur in a nearby town).

NOTE: You can subscribe to our new articles by entering your email address in the box on the right column (or at the very bottom of this article) and clicking on the button “Subscribe”.

You will need to check your incoming emails and validate your subscription. If you can’t see an email from us, check your Spam folder. Without validating your email address, you will not get notifications from us. WE WILL NEVER GIVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESSES TO ANYONE!

Related Posts

  • 95
    Honfleur – The Artists – de Saint-Delis, ReneRene de Saint-Delis, 1876 - 1958, was a French painter influenced by the Impressionist movement. He was born in the North of France (Pas-de-Calais) and died in Etretat, Normandy. Here are his paintings he made in Honfleur, Normandy.
  • 94
    Honfleur – The Artists – Ten Cate, Siebe JohannesSiebe Johannes ten Cate (1858 - 1908) was a Dutch-Frisian painter in the Impressionist style, who spent most of his working life in France. His favorite subjects were landscapes, city and harbor views, often populated with figures. Le Havre was one of his favorite locations. Here are his works for…
  • 94
    Honfleur – The Artists – Butler, Theodore EarlTheodore Earl Butler, (1861–1936) was an American impressionist painter. He was born in Columbus, Ohio, and moved to Paris to study art. He befriended Claude Monet in Giverny, and married his stepdaughter, Suzanne Hoschedé. After her death he married her sister, Marthe Hoschede. Butler was a founding member of the…
  • 93
    Honfleur – The Artists – Maclet, EliseeJules Emile Elisee Maclet (1881–1962) was a French Impressionist painter, particularly known for his views of Montmartre. Maclet was born the son of a gardener and a laundress at Lihons in the Santerre region in Picardy. His family was poor and he began work very young as an assistant to…
  • 93
    Honfleur – The Artists – Monet, ClaudeClaude Monet is without any doubt the most famous impressionist painter. He started the movement, and he was the master of it. Although he was born in Paris, France (and died in Giverny, Normandy, France), his heart was Normandy, particularly the Normandy coastline. His family moved to Le Havre in…
Today: The Lighthouse (Phare Jetee Est)
Today: The Lighthouse (Phare Jetee Est)
Powered by
Scroll to Top