Luncheon of the Boating Party

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, commonly known just as Renoir, painted the Luncheon of the Boating Party from 1880 to 1881, when he was aged 40. The setting for the painting is the balcony of one of his favorite restaurants, the Fournaise, which overlooks the river Seine in Chatou, near Paris. The scene in Luncheon of the Boating Party portrays a group of Renoir's friends enjoying a perfect afternoon of socializing, drinking and eating.

The Luncheon of the Boating Party depicts some well-known names of the time and the woman that Renoir would go on the marry. Renoir's future wife, 27-year-old Aline Charigot, a seamstress, is seen sitting in the bottom left-hand corner holding up a dog to give it a kiss. In the center of the painting, drinking from a glass, you can see Ellen Andree, an actress. Several of the party goers wear straw boaters, the restaurant owner's son and daughter, both on the left of the painting and leaning on the rail, and two of Renoir's good friends Paul Lhote, a painter, and Eugene Pierra Lestringez. Both men are seen flirtatiously chatting to actress Jeanne Samary in the top-right of the painting. The most prominent person wearing a boaters hat in Luncheon of the Boating Party is Gustave Caillebotte. Caillebotte was well-known amongst impressionists. He is talking to Adrien Maggiolo, a journalist and Angele Lagault, an actress.

Parisian society was undergoing changes in the late 19th century, when Renoir worked on Luncheon of the Boating Party. The divide between classes was slipping away. Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party depicts this new mixing of classes with the variety of people at the party including, actresses, artists, businessmen, wealthy women and working women. Renoir preferred to create happy scenes. The final Luncheon of the Boating Party canvas is 51-inches by 68-inches, large enough to entice the viewer into the scene.

What makes Luncheon of the Boating Party such a masterpiece is the way it portrays a snapshot of time that was purely Renoir's mental vision. Another interesting fact about the painting is that Renoir did not draw any of it or create any studies before he began painting. The final Luncheon of the Boating Party image is the result of months of re-working the placement of the subjects and perfecting the tones. The final placement of each person creates a scene where the viewer can feel like they are part of it instead of just looking in on someone's else's party.

Despite the final piece resulting in one of the most beautiful Impressionism works created, Renoir had a love-hate relationship with Luncheon of the Boating Party. He once said "I no longer know where I am with it, except that it is annoying me more and more." Money was scare and Renoir found it hard to pay for supplies and model fees. However, he persevered with it, one main reason being that he wanted to prove Emile Zola's criticisms of Impressionists wrong. By 1883 Renoir has moved away from Impressionist works. Some believe that his shift from this style can already be seen in Luncheon of the Boating Party.

In 1923, Duncan Phillips bought Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party. Since then the main home of Luncheon of the Boating Party has been the Phillips Memorial Gallery in Washington D.C.