Bridge on the River Touques at Deauville 

Editor: We're looking at "Bridge on the River Touques at Deauville" by Eugène Boudin, made with oil paints. It's such a tranquil waterscape, but also kind of hazy, even industrial. How do you interpret this work? Curator: I see this painting as a vital document of a specific moment in time, reflecting both the allure of the seaside and the encroachment of industrialization. The impressionistic style, with its focus on light and atmosphere, often celebrated leisure and the natural world. However, if you look at the smokestacks in the background, you get this sense of tension: this supposedly carefree resort town is also a site of labour. How does that tension speak to contemporary society? Editor: So it's not just a pretty picture? Curator: Not at all. Boudin, working en plein air, captures the changing social landscape. The bridge, typically a symbol of connection, here seems to divide the traditional maritime life from the burgeoning industrial age. How might the depiction of working class life differ from that of Monet or Renoir, who focus on scenes of bourgeois leisure? Editor: That's a great question, I need to think more about the working classes within Impressionism. It really does put a different spin on the painting – makes it feel much more relevant today. Curator: Exactly. Boudin is hinting at the complex relationship between progress and the lived experiences of different social classes in 19th-century France. Considering questions around how we depict the natural environment, and the working people, will enrich our engagement with any painting. Editor: I'll never look at an impressionist landscape in the same way again! Thanks!