Eugène BOUDIN. L.A.S., March 16, 1891, to Ferdinand MARTIN; 6pages in-8 (the last leaf on the blank f. of a prospectus printed by Durand-Ruel). Preparation for his exhibition at Durand-Ruel. Time flies. "Should we complain? I don't know, but this ceaseless work, where one painting follows another on the easel... this tension of the brain towards a goal, this constant application that wears you down without shaking, makes you forget the days, the hours and the minutes.... In the past, I still had moments of respite... I rested for lack of energy and verve [...] now the machine runs its course and turns relentlessly... how silly this life of toil that takes us at an age when we could do with some rest and respite... And to think we're all like that, poor old workers of the brush and pen... Perhaps it's a good thing we die with our tools in hand... This prevents us from feeling the old age that is coming, or rather has come... we still delude ourselves about our years when the hand is alert and the brain obedient [...] I make do with life as I have it, more preoccupied with this painting than with anything else! However, I have little to complain about, and when my health is more or less good, as it is at the moment, I bear the somewhat heavy weight of the years quite cheerfully. But what efforts one is obliged to make to rejuvenate oneself and prove to this presumptuous youth that one is still good at something! In addition to my regular commissions, I recently had to provide Durand-Ruel with the support for a new exhibition which is taking place at the moment [...] I've taken out a pile of old drawings... and then paintings! I'm getting some nice articles - all this hardly touches me anymore, I assure you, but I'm working with more courage than ever, knowing full well that one day I'll be forced to stop in this too hasty or too hasty production"... He has to give it "another go" for the Salon... He has suffered from the stove "during this harsh winter, but since the return of fine weather I have been working without a fire, and I feel some relief" .... He recalls Jongkind's death: "another one from the building goes! our ranks are thinning nicely!" He sold a painting at the Bordeaux exhibition... The last part of the letter is written on the back of a printed invitation to the Eugène Boudin exhibition at Durand-Ruel, March 9 to 17.