It was precisely in February 1892 that Eugène Boudin discovered the South of France and stayed in Villefranche where he set up his easel to paint outdoors.

The stays in the South in 1892 and 1893 had a liberating effect on his painting. Although it initially gave him a feeling of helplessness, the intense light of the South acted as a catalyst. He therefore did not seek the clear skies and harsh light of summer, but it was these skies that were at once luminous, blurred, veiled or cloudy that he appreciated.

The joy of painting energized Boudin. Here too, landscapes and seascapes are only pretexts to capture spaces for he who would be crowned "King of the Skies" by Camille Corot and Claude Monet.

Boudin lands here at the foot of the Citadel Saint Elme in Villefranche. What a delight... the Fleet is there for major naval maneuvers...

Boudin, fascinated by the intense light, deliberately unbalances his composition.
On the right, the fortress, figurative and colorful, rises in counterpoint to the ships on the left, while the sailors hold our attention for a moment...
But it is the sky and the winter light that take place as the central subject of the work to which we return again and again.