The boom, Le Havre , 1881

Oil on panel, signed and

dated "Sept. 81" 

Dimensions: 26.1 cm x 41 cm,

with frame 48 cm x 61 cm 

In 1880, the painter experienced difficulties: the beginnings of a new style of painting, Impressionism, called into question his pictorial approach. His doctor sent him to Menton, he traveled to the north of France. Berthe Morisot pushes him towards Impressionism which he adopts in his seascapes, whose sensitivity and modernity are in every way similar to those of Jongkind.

Alfred Stevens painted this painting at this time of pictorial upheavals. It represents the pier near Le Havre, a place of pleasure in Sainte-Adresse made famous by painters (Raoul Dufy, Claude Monet to name a few). It gives large flat areas of color, the sea is adorned with an avant-garde material. The shades of gray are punctuated by a few sailboats and the wooden pontoon, the pier. The herbs of the dune are suggested by a brushstroke. The sand disappears, it's high tide. The back of the sign indicates that the painting was sold to us as part of the Ischia raffle, to raise funds to help the victims of 1883.