Claude Monet (1840-1926): The Beach at Trouville, 1870 (Oil on canvas, The National Gallery, London) - The figure to the left is probably Monet’s wife Camille, and the woman reading may be the wife of Eugène Boudin… The painting is unusual in its composition - a close-up of symmetrically disposed figures - and in the bravura of its technique. The white dashes of paint indicating the dress are prominent. They contrast with the shadowed face, probably concealed by a veil, and the parasol shading the flowered hat…