Eugène Boudin

Born in Hornfleur, France in 1824 he was the son of a sailor and worked on the boats in his youth. His family moved to Le Havre were his father established a stationary and framing company. He later became partner in this company and it was here that he came into contact with many artists who encouraged him to pursue painting. He received little formal training and he learned through study of the work of older contemporaries. His first break came when Baudelaire praised his paintings at a Salon in 1859. He is famous for his landscape paintings and mostly for his paintings of the beaches in Brittany and Normandy.