On the Beach

He had his wife and his brother pose for him on the beach as is shown by the grains of sand mixed with the paint. Suzanne, well protected against the sun and the wind by a muslin veil and a voluminous summer dress, is absorbed in her book. Eugène, the painter's brother and soon to be the husband of Berthe Morisot, is gazing out to sea, lying in the same position as ten years earlier in Lunch on the Grass. The two triangles formed by the figures stabilise the composition.