Auguste Renoir - The boat. La barque 1878

The boat. La barque 1878
The boat. La barque
1878 54x65cm oil/canvas
Museum Langmatt

« previous picture | 1870s Renoir Paintings | next picture »

From Museum Langmatt:
Through a group of trees, a boat can be seen moored at the shore of a stretch of water. A female figure dressed in white is seated in the bows; the empty place opposite her at the helm suggests the proximity of a second person, probably her beau. The scene has that quality of which Renoir said: “It is the simplest subjects that are immortal.” The episode could be taking place at one of the destinations for Sunday excursions on the shores of the Seine not far from Paris, perhaps the Ile de Chatou, where Renoir and his painter friends found many subjects. Flooded with sunlight, the idyllic scene owes its colourful charm to Renoir’s mastery of impressionist technique, which he had achieved by the late 1870s.