Boats at Sea, Sunset

With its oblong format and spare style, Boats at Sea, Sunset from 1868 is a unique work of art. The composition is taken from the upper section of a watercolour study, currently held in Basel. Accentuating the horizontality of the work, Manet adds a boat to the upper right of the painting, but cuts off the main motif from the frame of the picture and chooses not to include the hull of the boat shown in the foreground, which is fully visible in the preparatory study. The continuity of the water and the sky, drenched in shades of soft grey, excludes any illusion of depth.