Veules, Normandy

Veules-les-Roses on the Normandy coast was among the small fishing villages that attracted artists in the second half of the nineteenth century, partly because of its relative remoteness from the busier ports and its unspoiled chalk cliffs. Bogolyubov painted this view in 1870, the same year the Franco-Prussian War broke out — a conflict that interrupted many artists' routines in France. For a Russian painter with strong ties to Paris who divided his time between Russia and Western Europe, the summer months in Normandy offered calm before the disruptions of war and political upheaval. The canvas medium here allowed for a broader handling than his panel studies, and Bogolyubov's training under the French marine painter Isabey is evident in his sensitivity to coastal light. Normandy's moist atmosphere, the particular silver-grey of its summer skies, and the modest life of its fishing communities were recurring subjects that linked Bogolyubov's French work to contemporaries such as Boudin and the early Monet.

Painted on canvas rather than panel, this work permits more fluid, gestural application of paint. Bogolyubov manages the luminous grey tonality of the Normandy atmosphere with layered glazes and opaque highlights. The horizon line is carefully positioned to balance the sky's weight against the coastal settlement below.