Cows in the Pasture

At a time when classicism and romanticism in art were in conflict, Eugène Boudin chose a new path inspired by the painters of the 1830 school but firmly directed towards outdoor painting and the search to capture the ephemeral. In fact, he wrote in his notebook that, "three brushstrokes outdoors in nature are better than two days’ work at your easel". In 1858, he converted Claude Monet, who is sixteen years his senior, to painting. Later Monet was to say, "I owe everything to Boudin." In 1859, he met up with Baudelaire, who was fascinated with the pastel studies of Boudin and later Courbet.This painting was created in 1888, the same year as yesterday's Seurat's masterpiece. Comparing these two pieces you can easily sense in which direction modern art went.