Musée d’Orsay · 1869
Clair de lune sur le port de Boulogne
Édouard Manet
Painted from a hotel window in the port town of Boulogne-sur-Mer, this nighttime harbor scene shows fishermen's wives waiting on the quay for a boat's return by moonlight — astronomers have even worked out the exact night it depicts, August 3–4, 1868.
Why it matters
Painted from a hotel window in the port town of Boulogne-sur-Mer, this nighttime harbor scene shows fishermen's wives waiting on the quay for a boat's return by moonlight — astronomers have even worked out the exact night it depicts, August 3–4, 1868.
Look closer
Follow the pool of moonlight breaking across the dark water — Manet borrows the mysterious, glowing light of 17th-century Dutch night scenes, but paints an ordinary, unposed moment instead of a biblical one.
True nocturnes and marine subjects are rare in Manet's work, making this quiet, moonlit harbor one of the more unusual paintings in his output.
Value context
ELYIO places this work in an indicative editorial context of €null–null million.
The museum work is not for sale. This is ELYIO indicative context—not an appraisal, insurance value or offer.