35mm slide scanned by Ed Pollard-2009. Photo by Scott Wolf.

The Beach at Villerville at Sunset

Artist Charles-François Daubigny (French, 1817 - 1878)

Date1873

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions30 1/4 x 55 1/2 in. (76.8 x 141 cm)
Overall, Frame: 44 3/8 × 70 5/8 × 5 3/4 in. (112.7 × 179.4 × 14.6 cm)

ClassificationsEuropean art

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.635

Terms

Landscape
Seascape
Blue
Gray
Purple
Green
Pink
Orange
Black
Barbizon

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

On view

DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting of a landscape. The horizon line very nearly divides the canvas into two halves, sky and sea. The sky shows a luminous sunset in colors of orange, yellow, russet and grayish mauve. The sea is calm as it gently plies the coast. On the left side of the canvas there is a small house built on the rocks by the sea. The lateness of the hour casts it into shadow.

Label TextCharles-François Daubigny French, 1817–1878 The Beach at Villerville at Sunset, 1873 Oil on canvas Though connected to the Barbizon group, the landscape artist Daubigny spent much of his career far from the group’s favored hamlet just southeast of Paris. The painting here depicts one of his own favorite spots—the remote fishing village of Villerville on the Normandy coast. With broken, summary brushstrokes and brilliant touches of yellow and orange, he casts a dramatic expanse of beach in the rosy sunset. Daubigny’s rapid painting technique and passion for capturing the fleeting effects of nature’s color and light directly anticipate the art of the Impressionists. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.635