In the summer of 1870, Claude Monet, his wife Camille Doncieux, and their first-born child, Jean, arrived in Trouville, a fashionable Second Empire seaside resort. There they met up with the painter Eugène Boudin, whose beach scenes were proving popular with art lovers. Hoping to emulate his success, Monet took up the theme and made it his own. Camille and her cousin posed for three small paintings, including On the Beach at Trouville. Compared to his teacher’s frieze-like compositions, Monet’s arrangement is more dynamic. The narrower focus on the seated women solidly anchors the foreground, while the diagonal of the water’s edge creates an effect of space and depth. In just a few brushstrokes, Monet sketches out the shapes without detailing them. The painter was interested above all in outdoor study and effects of light. Although the restrained, gray-dominated palette is typical of the artist’s early works, the freedom of the brushstrokes and speed of execution nonetheless make this small painting a milestone in the journey towards Impressionism.