Provenance

• Date unknown: 'French Coast' was bought 'forty years ago' by an unknown collector in London (inscription on label).
• 1982: sold at auction, Doyle, New York, 22 September 1982 (lot 104, repr.) as 'Surf breaking on the beach' and bought by a private collector, Florida;
• 1988: sold to Hope Davis, New York art dealer;
• 1991: sold to a private collector.

The early provenance is unknown.

Exhibitions

It was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.