Description
On the Beach, Boulogne-sur-Mer is a small, wide canvas that Édouard Manet painted in 1868 after a summer on the Channel coast: pale sand, a turquoise sea with sailing boats and a steamer, and holiday-makers scattered about with parasols, children, a donkey and a bathing cabin on wheels. The original is oil on canvas, 32.4 x 66 cm, and belongs to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. Our painter makes it for you by hand in oil on canvas, in 8 landscape sizes from 50 x 25 to 150 x 75 cm, or made to measure. We send you a photograph of your finished beach before dispatch.
| Title: | On the Beach, Boulogne-sur-Mer |
| Other titles: | Sur la plage de Boulogne (French title) |
| Painter: | Édouard Manet (1832–1883) |
| Year painted: | 1868 |
| Original size: | 32.4 cm x 66 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Realism and Impressionism |
| Located at: | Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, United States |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted in oil on canvas, 8 sizes or made to measure |
On the Beach, Boulogne-sur-Mer – Édouard Manet
What does On the Beach, Boulogne-sur-Mer show?
The canvas shows a long strip of shore, almost twice as wide as it is high. Pale sand fills the lower half, above it lies a turquoise sea with white crests, and at the top a light, faintly clouded sky. Sailing boats cross the horizon, and among them a steamer trails a dark plume of smoke.
Small figures dot the sand. On the left a lady in a crinoline with a white parasol stands by two boys; in the middle a girl holds a pink parasol near a seated woman in grey, and further back someone scans the sea through a telescope. On the right sit two ladies in wide skirts, a man in a straw hat shades himself, a child crouches in the sand and a saddled donkey waits.
At the water’s edge stands a bathing machine, a cabin on wheels that carried bathers down to the sea so they could enter the water out of sight. The signature, Manet, is at the lower right.
How did this beach scene come about?
In the summer of 1868 Manet was on holiday at Boulogne-sur-Mer on the Channel coast, a resort he visited at least twice. He made several outdoor sketches on the beach and later finished the canvas from them, rather than wholly on the spot. The museum that owns it calls it his only painting of the beach at Boulogne.
The painting tells no story. It shows modern leisure: holiday-makers, bathing cabins and ships, caught in a moment in which every figure has its own movement. Figures and boats ignore strict perspective and scale; Manet seems to have set them side by side along the sand.
In the museum’s reading, the harmony of greens, blues and whites matters more here than a literal record of the shore. Manet shared modern subjects like this with the Impressionists, though he never exhibited with them.
Why is this painting so admired?
Born in Paris in 1832 into a wealthy family, Édouard Manet trained under Thomas Couture, copied Velázquez and Titian in the Louvre and became one of the first nineteenth-century painters of modern life, a key link between Realism and Impressionism.
His Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe (1863) and Olympia (1865) caused great controversy and are seen as the start of modern art. This small seaside piece shows another side of him: a light, bright summer day set down in quick strokes.
To read more about the painter, see the Wikipedia article on Édouard Manet, written in English and about the painter, not this canvas alone.
Where is the original, and where has it been shown?
The original, oil on canvas measuring just 32.4 x 66 cm (height x width), belongs to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia, under accession number 85.498. The museum lists it as part of the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon.
It has travelled to major exhibitions: Manet’s posthumous exhibition at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1884, a show on Manet and the sea in Philadelphia and Amsterdam in 2004, and Manet / Degas at the Musée d’Orsay and the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 2023 and 2024.
Our other Manet beach scene, On the Beach (1873, Berck-sur-Mer), is a different work.
On the Beach, Boulogne-sur-Mer or another Manet?
This canvas painting suits anyone who loves the sea, summer holidays and light colours.
For another side of Manet, look at Branch of White Peonies and Shears, two white blooms and a pair of shears on a dark table, or Berthe Morisot Reclining, a portrait of the painter in a black dress. The artist himself, standing in a skull-cap, appears in Self-Portrait, and a young woman by a woodland pool in La Nymphe surprise.
Our Édouard Manet page gathers more famous Manet paintings, from portraits to still lifes, each one painted to order.
How do we hand-paint On the Beach, Boulogne-sur-Mer?
Manet’s original is small, only 66 cm wide. Ours is an oil painting reproduction on fresh canvas, worked by the painter in oil on canvas in the size you choose and built up in thin layers.
He first divides the surface into three bands of sand, sea and sky and fixes the horizon line. Then he lays in the sandy, turquoise and pale blue areas, and only at the end places the figures, parasols, cabin, donkey and ships with quick, short strokes.
Manet sketched the figures with a few sweeps of the brush, and our painter keeps that lightness rather than finishing every dress.
Which size fits which wall?
In short: 50 x 25 or 60 x 30 cm for a shelf or a narrow spot above a desk, 70 x 35 and 80 x 40 cm above a chest of drawers or a bed, 90 x 45 and 120 x 57 cm above a sofa, and 130 x 66 or 150 x 75 cm for a long wall in a living or dining room.
We paint it in 8 landscape sizes (width x height): 50 x 25, 60 x 30, 70 x 35, 80 x 40, 90 x 45, 120 x 57, 130 x 66 and 150 x 75 cm. The original measures 66 x 32.4 cm (width x height), so 50 x 25 and 60 x 30 cm are smaller, 60 x 30 cm is the closest, 70 x 35 cm is already slightly larger, and from 80 x 40 cm up every size enlarges the original; 130 x 66 cm is roughly twice as wide.
As a painting for the living room it works best at 120 x 57 or 130 x 66 cm above a long sofa, where the small figures read clearly.
Can I have a different size or a frame?
Yes. Because the original is almost twice as wide as it is high, for a taller format we add a little sky or sand and keep the figures and ships whole. Send us the size you need, and you will get a price and a delivery date for this beach.
It leaves us rolled, stretched on a stretcher bar or framed; the stretching and framing are done by our workshop in Slovenia. You choose the moulding for this seaside scene in our 3D app, which serves only to pick the frame; seeing the painting on your own wall is a separate service.
When will the painting arrive?
The painter starts on the shore as soon as you confirm the order, and the painting is ready to leave within 15 to 45 working days. Before packing we send you a photograph of it and make any changes you ask for.
No customs duties apply inside Slovenia or anywhere else in the EU, and our returns policy covers the order.
A sunny day by the sea makes a lovely gift for anyone who loves the coast or owns a holiday home. With a wall art voucher, the person you are giving it to picks the size themselves.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I see the original?
At the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, USA, under accession number 85.498.
What are the people on the beach doing?
Strolling, sitting under parasols, children playing in the sand, and someone watching the ships through a telescope.
Is this a print?
No. Every hand-painted copy is made with brushes and oil paint on canvas, with no printing at all.
How big is the original?
Only 32.4 x 66 cm (height x width); all our sizes from 70 x 35 cm up are larger.
Is there a size beyond the eight listed?
Yes. Send us the width and height and you will get an offer; if needed we add a little sky or sand.
How is it delivered, and how long does it take?
Rolled, stretched or framed, within 15 to 45 working days; you get a photograph first.
Would this beach suit a bedroom or make a good gift?
Yes. The calm blue and sand tones sit well above a bed, and as a present it pleases anyone who loves the seaside.
What was the cabin on wheels for?
It was a bathing machine that carried bathers to the water, so they could step into the sea unseen.
- Subject: holiday-makers, children and a donkey on pale sand, a bathing cabin on wheels and sailing boats on a turquoise sea.
- Original: oil on canvas, 1868, 32.4 x 66 cm, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond.
- Ours: an Édouard Manet reproduction painted by hand in oil on canvas, 8 sizes from 50 x 25 to 150 x 75 cm, or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: Manet’s only painting of the beach at Boulogne, finished from sketches made outdoors.
