Low Tide, Sailboats Run Aground

Eugène Boudin

National Gallery of Art

We are eye-level on a beach with half a dozen ships in view, sitting on the ground against a gray sky in this vertical landscape oil painting created with broad, unblended strokes. The horizon line is approximately a quarter of the way from the bottom of the painting, separating the damp sandy brown beach from the water and blue-gray sky. This landscape contains five grounded boats and one in the water. The closest boat to us is slightly off-center to the left. It is a sailboat with a light brown, tall pole supporting the sails that appears broken as it lies down on the dark brown hull. The boat is pointing towards our right. Behind this boat on the left is a very similar boat, but its mask is intact, and it is pointing towards us. Further back in our view are approximately two more boats, more indistinct but appear to be the same type as the closer boats. In the back of our view on the right of the painting, where the sand meets the water, there is a grounded brown boat with no mast. It is very small, and directly to its left, there are two indistinct people made of only a few brushstrokes. One step further behind this boat, in the water and on the horizon line, there is one more boat with its sails up that appears to be sailing almost out of the painting towards our right. Also on our right side of the painting, next to the closest boat, the beach has a puddle of water, which seems to indicate low tide. This puddle reflects the colors of the sky. The large body of water at the farthest view in the painting blends seamlessly into the sky, starting with a pale blue at the horizon line that darkens into a medium dark blue-gray as it moves towards the top of our view. The words E. Boudin are marked in the bottom left corner.