View along the River Touques

Boudin was committed to working plein air in his native Normandy, especially in the later decades of his career. Touques was an inland port town near Boudin's villa at Deauville, where he settled in 1885. Staying in Deauville made his outdoor excursions to draw and paint less demanding as he struggled during the 1890s with the stomach cancer that led to his death.
Several of Boudin's depictions of the river Touques from the 1880s include washerwomen at work, livestock being watered, houses lining the banks, or ships gathered in the harbor. This view of a flat section along a bend in the river, with only marsh and trees visible, was one the artist depicted in a few canvases from the 1890s. Quick strokes of brown and green pastel animate the trees in the distance, while vibrant white passages show light shimmering on the water's surface. Boudin's commitment to the direct study of nature would profoundly influence a generation of artists, Claude Monet foremost among them.