Boys Playing on the Shore

Boys Playing on the Shore is a painting by the Finnish artist Albert Edelfelt, completed in 1884. It depicts three boys absorbed in play along a sunlit shoreline, sailing self-made bark and toy boats among the rocks at the water's edge. In the distance, full-size vessels such as a cargo ship and a schooner appear, at that remove, almost the same scale as the children's toy boats. Edelfelt painted the work at Haikko, near Porvoo, between August and October 1884, often working en plein air, and the result is counted among his finest sunlit, open-air scenes. The painting was acquired for the Ateneum in 1930 and is regarded as one of Finland's best-loved works of art.