The exhibition, which brings together never-before-exhibited works from a private collection and others from the rich Musée du Havre, traces the development of Boudin 's (1824/1898) career, from his early landscapes of Normandy to his final seascapes of the Midi and Venice, and follows him to Brittany, Bordeaux, the North, Belgium and the Netherlands. Placed in correspondence with works by Claude Monet, they highlight the dialogue between Boudin and his main pupil and friend. Known for his seascapes and beach scenes, Eugène Boudin was one of the first French artists to paint en plein air, capturing atmospheric variations with great sensitivity. He was thus one of the initiators of a renewed vision of nature, preceding the Impressionists and Claude Monet, who wrote at the end of his life: "my destiny as a painter had opened up, and it's to Boudin that I owe it".