Sketches of Marine Scenes (recto); Two Sketches: Beside Stormy Coast, Cloudy Seascape

Édouard Manet · 1852/83 (recto); c. 1871 (verso)

Medium

Watercolor and graphite (recto), and watercolor with traces of graphite, heightened with touches of white gouache (verso), on off-white wove paper

Original size

32.5 × 26.5 cm (12 13/16 × 10 7/16 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Impressionism

These rapid watercolor sketches reveal Manet at his most unguarded — storm-roughened coastlines and brooding seascapes captured in a few decisive strokes, with none of the performative finish his salon work demanded. Manet was drawn to the sea throughout his career, shaped in part by six years he spent as a merchant marine apprentice in his youth. In these sketches, that early intimacy with open water is visible: the compositions feel instinctive rather than constructed, and the medium suits the subject perfectly. Watercolor and graphite allowed him to chase light and atmosphere without committing to the slower logic of oil, and the touches of white gouache lift the crests of waves with a directness that feels almost modern. The Art Institute of Chicago holds both the recto and verso of this sheet, a double-sided work that suggests Manet treated paper as a thinking space rather than a presentation surface. Our hand-painted oil reproduction translates these loose, atmospheric sketches into the richer tonal range of oil on canvas, preserving the spontaneous energy of the originals while giving the works the material presence and longevity they deserve as finished pieces.