The relationship with the sea For a better understanding of the life and work of Bernard Bouts we must know a little about his connection to the sea, whose very life marked him since his youth in Brittany, sailing along its beaches. He loved the seaside civilization and all of its culture dating back to the Phoenicians, becoming a second profession to Bouts, complementing and enriching his art and his thought. In South America, Bouts began sailing in 1954 in the sailing boat called Andariego. He liked sailing with his wife and son (her daughter died at the age of 7 in Buenos Aires), carried by either the adventure or the wind that always blows willingly. In his handwritten manuscript, found in his book, Bouts compares his sailing practice to his work as a painter. Leveling the activity of the sailor to the craft of the artist. The confrontation is suggestive and pretty peculiar in our country. This is another one of the painter’s peculiarities. The stay of the Bouts family in Argentina was interrupted in 1954. They leave to Brazil aboard his boat Andariego, starting numerous trips around South America. On a visit to Bahia Bernard Bouts faces a schooner that fascinates him. He asked a friend to purchase it for him, if by any chance it was put for sale in his absence. He was fortunate because it soon became available. That was how on 1st February 1961 he bought Cisne, his beautiful schooner, where he lived and painted. He worked and travelled this way for ten years, all the huge coast of Brazil, from Oiapoque to Chui. From this life at sea, Bouts focused one of the main objects of his work. < the artist > life in Rio de Janeiro		L'Andariego Working on his boat. "Cisne"