Famous Beach Paintings

Sand, dunes and shoreline days, from Normandy resorts to New England coves.

47 paintings, with works by Eugène Boudin, Winslow Homer, Claude Monet and Gustave Courbet. Most often they suit the bathroom, bedroom and guest room.

47 paintings

Painting of a beach on a cloudy day with several sailboats on the water, a few rowboats on the shore, and two groupings of people on the sand.

Claude Monet The Beach at Sainte-Adresse, 1867 Art Institute of Chicago

By the Seashore, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1883, oil on canvas

Pierre-Auguste Renoir By the Seashore, 1883 The Met

At the Seaside, William Merritt Chase, ca. 1892, oil on canvas

William Merritt Chase At the Seaside, ca. 1892 The Met

Cliffs on the Sea Coast: Small Beach, Sunrise (Falaise au bord de la mer, vu Petite Plage, soleil levant), Gustave Courbet, 1865, oil on canvas

Gustave Courbet Cliffs on the Sea Coast: Small Beach, Sunrise (Falaise au bord de la mer, vu Petite Plage, soleil levant), 1865 Art Institute of Chicago

At seascape rendered in pastel tones. At right, boats line a pink shore underneath a tall cliff. At left, a single red sailboat floats in blue water.

Claude Monet Étretat: The Beach and the Falaise d'Amont, 1885 Art Institute of Chicago

The Departure of the Boats, Étretat, Claude Monet, 1885, oil on canvas

Claude Monet The Departure of the Boats, Étretat, 1885 Art Institute of Chicago

Te burao (The Hibiscus Tree), Paul Gauguin, 1892, oil on canvas

Paul Gauguin Te burao (The Hibiscus Tree), 1892 Art Institute of Chicago

Low Tide at Pourville, near Dieppe, 1882, Claude Monet, 1882, oil on fabric

Claude Monet Low Tide at Pourville, near Dieppe, 1882, 1882 Cleveland Museum of Art

Study for Eagle Head, Manchester, Massachusetts, Winslow Homer, 1869 (?), oil on wood

Winslow Homer Study for Eagle Head, Manchester, Massachusetts, 1869 (?) The Met

George Sand's Garden at Nohant, Eugène Delacroix, ca. 1842–43, oil on canvas

Eugène Delacroix George Sand's Garden at Nohant, ca. 1842–43 The Met

Figures on the Beach, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1890, oil on canvas

Pierre-Auguste Renoir Figures on the Beach, 1890 The Met

Four women with pale, peach skin, wearing long white dresses, stand or sit on a sunny beach in this wide, horizontal painting. People and carriages are painted as hazy gray silhouettes spread along the beach in the distance.

Winslow Homer East Hampton Beach, Long Island, 1874 National Gallery of Art

Towering, sheer cliffs loom to our left, over a sunny beach scattered with boats in this horizontal landscape painting.

Gustave Courbet Beach in Normandy, c. 1872/1875 National Gallery of Art

Moss-green land rising to a tree-topped bluff follows the curve of a sandy beach surrounding a pale blue cove in this horizontal landscape painting.

Camille Corot Beach near Etretat, c. 1872 National Gallery of Art

From a rocky shoreline, we look on several light-skinned people working by the sea with a boat and a net in this freely painted, almost square seascape.

Thomas Gainsborough Seashore with Fishermen, c. 1781/1782 National Gallery of Art

Four boats with low masts sit on a sandy beach next to rocky cliffs under a cloud-filled sky in this horizontal landscape painting. Three of the boats are clustered together near the center of the composition.

Gustave Courbet Boats on a Beach, Etretat, c. 1872/1875 National Gallery of Art

Two dark-skinned women stand facing each other on a dirt path that runs beside a body of water in this horizontal painting. One woman faces us and balances a flat tray loaded with white cloths on her head.

Camille Pissarro Two Women Chatting by the Sea, St. Thomas, 1856 National Gallery of Art

Sea Cove, Albert Bierstadt, ca. 1880–90, oil on wood

Albert Bierstadt Sea Cove, ca. 1880–90 The Met

Four women and two children, all with pale skin, carry baskets as they walk along a beach under a brilliant blue sky in this horizontal painting. The scene is painted with visible dabs and blended strokes.

John Singer Sargent En route pour la pêche (Setting Out to Fish), 1878 National Gallery of Art

Facing away from us, a light-skinned woman blowing a silver horn stands in a grassy landscape in this vertical painting. The woman is lit brightly from the upper right, making her ankle-length, white dress glow.

Winslow Homer The Dinner Horn (Blowing the Horn at Seaside), 1870 National Gallery of Art

Eagle Head, Manchester, Massachusetts (High Tide), Winslow Homer, 1870, oil on canvas

Winslow Homer Eagle Head, Manchester, Massachusetts (High Tide), 1870 The Met

Two pale-skinned little girls sit back-to-back on a sandy beach, almost filling the width of this vertical painting. The girls wear matching pale, ice-blue pinafores over short sleeve, ocean-blue dresses.

Mary Cassatt Children Playing on the Beach, 1884 National Gallery of Art

The Beach, Late Afternoon, Winslow Homer, 1869, oil on wood

Winslow Homer The Beach, Late Afternoon, 1869 The Met

Approaching Storm, Eugène Boudin, 1864, oil on cradled panel

Eugène Boudin Approaching Storm, 1864 Art Institute of Chicago

Eaton's Neck, Long Island, John Frederick Kensett, 1872, oil on canvas

John Frederick Kensett Eaton's Neck, Long Island, 1872 The Met

On the Beach at Trouville, Eugène Boudin, 1863, oil on wood

Eugène Boudin On the Beach at Trouville, 1863 The Met

On the Beach, Sunset, Eugène Boudin, 1865, oil on wood

Eugène Boudin On the Beach, Sunset, 1865 The Met

We look slightly down onto a bay that curves away from us into the distance and to our right in this horizontal landscape painting. C-shaped, shallow waves lap at the sandy beach from our right.

Worthington Whittredge Second Beach, Newport, c. 1878/1880 National Gallery of Art

Water laps at a curving shoreline in front of a steep sandy dune carpeted in grass, shrubs, and trees in this horizontal landscape painting. The dune takes up the lower right quadrant of the composition.

Jacob van Ruisdael Dunes by the Sea, 1648 National Gallery of Art

The image features a seascape scene with a beach, ocean, and sailboats. The horizon is high in the image, separating the sea from the sky, where sailboats are present.

Eugène Boudin Low Tide at Scheveningen, 1875 National Gallery of Art

About three dozen men and women sit, stand, or stroll along a sandy beach beneath a sunset-streaked sky in this horizontal landscape painting.

Eugène Boudin The Beach at Villerville, 1864 National Gallery of Art

This is a painting of a seaside scene with people sitting on a sandy beach. In the center is a group of three women and one child. The women wear high-necked dresses and tall hats in shades of red, yellow, and pink.

Eugène Boudin On the Beach, Trouville, 1887 National Gallery of Art

This painting shows a beach scene with people gathered on the sandy shore, facing away from us, looking towards the water. The horizon is in the center of the image, with the pale green-blue sea meeting the slightly darker blue sky.

Eugène Boudin On the Beach, 1894 National Gallery of Art

Eight men, women, and children stand or sit in straight-backed, wooden chairs gathered along a sandy beach near low, gently breaking waves with sailboats floating in the ocean beyond in this horizontal landscape painting.

Eugène Boudin Beach at Trouville, 1864/1865 National Gallery of Art

Eleven men, women, and children stand around a freestanding flagpole near a floating dock on a beach in this horizontal landscape painting. The scene is loosely painted, and dozens more people are gathered on the dock.

Eugène Boudin On the Jetty, c. 1869/1870 National Gallery of Art

A row of about a dozen men and women sit, stand, or stroll along a sandy beach beneath a pale blue sky in this horizontal landscape painting. The scene is loosely painted so many of the facial features and other details are indistinct.

Eugène Boudin The Beach, 1877 National Gallery of Art

This painting depicts a sandy beach under a vast, light blue sky. The horizon is in the center of the painting where the blue sky blends into the blue water.

Eugène Boudin Women on the Beach at Berck, 1881 National Gallery of Art

This painting shows a coastal scene with a rocky tan cliff on the left side extending down to the blue sea. The horizon is in the middle of the painting, with a bright, slightly cloudy blue sky above the sea.

Eugène Boudin Washerwomen on the Beach of Etretat, 1894 National Gallery of Art

A pink-toned sandy beach meets a placid body of pale blue water under a hazy sky in this horizontal landscape painting.

John Frederick Kensett Beach at Beverly, c. 1869/1872 National Gallery of Art

A dozen men, women, and children walk, stand, or sit on a waterside wharf that spans this horizontal painting. A jetty stretches into the distance at a right angle, starting to the left of center. Dozens more people pack the jetty.

Eugène Boudin Jetty and Wharf at Trouville, 1863 National Gallery of Art

Twenty men, women, and children sit, stand, or stroll along a sandy beach beneath a bright, cloud-filled sky in this horizontal landscape painting.

Eugène Boudin Figures on the Beach, c. 1867/1870 National Gallery of Art

The painting shows a beach scene with several people gathered on the shore. The people are gathered between four white tent-like structures in the center of the painting.

Eugène Boudin Beach Scene, 1862 National Gallery of Art

About two dozen men and women sit in straight-backed, wooden chairs gathered along a sandy beach near low, gently breaking waves with sailboats floating in the ocean beyond in this horizontal landscape painting.

Eugène Boudin Beach Scene at Trouville, 1863 National Gallery of Art

Beach Scene, Eugène Boudin, c. 1865–1867, oil on wood panel

Eugène Boudin Beach Scene, c. 1865–1867 Cleveland Museum of Art

The Beach at Deauville, Eugène Boudin, 1864, oil on wood panel

Eugène Boudin The Beach at Deauville, 1864 Cleveland Museum of Art

We are eye-level on a beach with half a dozen ships in view, sitting on the ground against a gray sky in this vertical landscape oil painting created with broad, unblended strokes.

Eugène Boudin Low Tide, Sailboats Run Aground, 1885-1890 National Gallery of Art

This painting shows a grassy landscape from a slightly elevated angle. The horizon is high in the composition, with faint pink-and-yellow mountains or hills under a muted gray-blue sky. Closest to us, light greens and yellows suggest grass.

Édouard Vuillard On the Beach, c. 1907 National Gallery of Art

Rooms these paintings suit

Styles