Concert at the Casino of Deauville

Eugène Boudin

National Gallery of Art

This is a painting depicting a social gathering under a large pavilion outdoors. The background shows a green, hilly landscape with hints of brown and white buildings in the distance, under a sky of soft blues with wispy gray clouds. The scene features a large crowd of elegantly dressed people, some standing and some sitting in chairs, their backs to us. To the right of center is a group of three women in large white gowns, standing in a small group with a bearded man who wears a pale-yellow scarf around his neck. On the left is a group of seated women, wearing gowns in shades of pink, white, blue, and yellow. The rest of the crowd is a blur of dark colors, with a few people wearing red or white who stick out. Beyond the crowd, under the ornate white pavilion with carved columns, we see the silhouette of a man raising a stick or baton. The brushstrokes in the painting are visible, and details are suggested with dashes of paint, giving the image a slightly hazy quality.