Detail of the Beach Scene by Degas in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 2023

Title: Beach Scene

Artist: Edgar Degas (French, Paris 1834–1917 Paris)

Date: ca. 1869–70

Geography: Country of Origin France

Culture: French

Medium: Oil (essence) on paper on canvas

Dimensions: 18 11/16 × 32 5/8 in. (47.5 × 82.9 cm)
Framed: 25 13/16 × 39 11/16 × 2 9/16 in., 30.9 lb. (65.5 × 100.8 × 6.5 cm, 14 kg)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: The National Gallery, London, Sir Hugh Lane Bequest, 1917. In partnership with Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin (NG3247)


During the summer of 1869 Degas vacationed on the northern French coast, where he visited Manet at Boulogne-sur-Mer. This painting of a beach scene—one of four Degas made in 1869—echoes, in many ways, Manet’s On the Beach, Boulogne-sur-Mer from the year before. Both depict disparate groups of seaside tourists against the backdrop of a blue-green ocean dotted with sailboats and ships, and both rely on using broad expanses of flat, bright color for the sun-drenched shoreline. Shown at the third Impressionist exhibition, in 1877, Degas’s painting focuses on a nanny combing the hair of a child, whose swimming costume is laid out to dry on the sand.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/844726