Sky 1863

This sketch by Eugène Boudin is made with pastels, those sticks of pure pigment bound with just enough medium to hold them together. Notice how the powdery material sits on the surface of the paper, creating a hazy atmosphere. Boudin was celebrated for his skies, and he captured countless variations of light and weather. This one is particularly evocative, with its bands of blue, gold, and green. Pastels were popular with Impressionist artists, who favoured working en plein air - that is, outside - to capture fleeting moments in nature. The portability of pastels made them perfect for this purpose, even though they require a skilled hand to achieve such a luminous effect. Boudin's sketches like these helped him to produce larger paintings back in the studio, but they also stand as beautiful works in their own right. Appreciating the material qualities of pastel, and the artist's deft handling of it, allows us to see beyond the subject matter and recognize the skill involved in capturing the ephemeral beauty of the sky.