Villas at Trouville

Painted from a clifftop at Trouville, a resort on the Normandy coast, looking down at blue-green water under a broken sky. Brick villas sit in the foreground just outside the town, each with its own piece of shoreline.

Caillebotte spent several summers on that coast in the early 1880s painting, visiting friends and racing. He was a serious competitive sailor who designed his own boats — which is worth knowing when you look at how he handles water.