Exploring the Seine

Each week for the duration of the exhibition, we’ll focus on one work of art from Renoir and Friends: Luncheon of the Boating Party, on view October 7, 2017-January 7, 2018.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Seine at Chatou, 1874

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Seine at Chatou (La Seine à Chatou), 1874. Oil on canvas, 20 × 25 in. Dallas Museum of Art, The Wendy and Emery Reves Collection

As early as 1869, Pierre-Auguste Renoir was exploring the banks of the Seine River west of Paris, seeking subjects for his developing Impressionist style, often painting outdoor landscapes with his friend Claude Monet. His mother lived near Louveciennes, not far from Chatou, where he would frequent the Maison Fournaise with its restaurant, lodging, and boats for hire. The Maison Fournaise would become the backdrop for his masterwork Luncheon of the Boating Party (1880-81), with members of the Fournaise family serving as models. In this lively rendering of a gusty day on the water, Renoir includes a sailboat, signaling in his painting the growing popularity of the sport.

Gustave Caillebotte the Yachtsman

Each week for the duration of the exhibition, we’ll focus on one work of art from Renoir and Friends: Luncheon of the Boating Party, on view October 7, 2017-January 7, 2018.

Gustave Caillebotte, Sailboats on the Seine at Argenteuil, 1893

Gustave Caillebotte, Sailboats on the Seine at Argenteuil (Voiliers sur la Seine à Argenteuil), 1893. Oil on canvas; 28 7⁄8 × 17 in. Private collection

Like his good friend and fellow artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Gustave Caillebotte spent a significant amount of time on the Seine west of Paris painting scenes such as this one. Caillebotte was born into a family that made its money in the textile business and inherited a fortune. As a young man at his family’s country retreat on the Yerres River, he enjoyed rowing and paddling in skiffs. He eventually purchased his own property on the Seine in nearby Petit-Gennevilliers, which became a perfect base from which to participate in regattas and to develop his skills as a yachtsman. By 1879, Caillebotte owned his own sailboat, participated in regattas in Argenteuil, and had joined the Cercle de la Voile de Paris (Sailing Club of Paris); he became a vice president of the club in 1880.

Renoir depicted Caillebotte in Luncheon of the Boating Party—he is the athletic man in the lower right, dressed for boating, with the hat not of an oarsman but of a gentleman sailor, and he appears to look right past all who surround him to the boats and the river beyond the balcony. Boating scenes were ideal for the two Impressionists, in its combination of a fashionable, contemporary subject with the painterly challenge of capturing sunlit figures and the river’s reflective surface.

The Dreamer

Each week for the duration of the exhibition, we’ll focus on one work of art from Renoir and Friends: Luncheon of the Boating Party, on view October 7, 2017-January 7, 2018.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Dreamer, 1879

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Dreamer (La Rêveuse), 1879. Oil on canvas 20 1⁄8 × 24 3⁄8 in. Saint Louis Art Museum, Museum purchase

The model for this painting is thought to be Alphonsine Fournaise, whom Renoir often saw at the Maison Fournaise in Chatou in the late 1870s. She posed for him regularly during the years leading up to Luncheon of the Boating Party. Although there is no direct evidence that Alphonsine modeled for the young woman leaning on the railing of the balcony in the grand composition, she may have occasionally joined the clientele at the Fournaise in such a way.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, On the Shore of the Seine, c. 1879

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, On the Shore of the Seine (Paysage bords de Seine), c. 1879. Oil on linen; 5 1/2 × 9 1⁄8 in. The Baltimore Museum of Art, Saidie A. May Bequest, Courtesy of the Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company

Installed just to the left of this lovely portrait is a smaller, almost sketch-like painting. This quickly executed oil study was probably a gift from Renoir to Alphonsine Fournaise to thank her for modeling for him. In 1864 she married Louis Joseph Papillon, and we know that a Madame Papillon once owned this piece.