View source for Luncheon of the Boating Party

{{Short description|Painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir}}
{{for|the 1875 painting by Renoir with the same theme and location|Lunch at the Restaurant Fournaise}}
{{Infobox artwork
| image_file         = Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Luncheon of the Boating Party - Google Art Project.jpg
| title              = Le Déjeuner des canotiers
| artist             = [[Pierre-Auguste Renoir]]
| year               = 1881<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/wheres-the-lunch-looking-at-renoirs-luncheon-of-the-boating-party-134230580/|title=Where's the Lunch? Looking at Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party|journal=Smithsonian Magazine|date=November 10, 2011|access-date=November 20, 2017}}</ref>
| medium             = Oil on canvas
| height_metric      = 129.9
| width_metric       = 172.7
| height_imperial    = 51
| width_imperial     = 68
| metric_unit        = cm
| imperial_unit      = in
| museum             = [[The Phillips Collection]]
| city               = [[Washington, DC]]
}}

'''''Luncheon of the Boating Party''''' ({{langx|fr|Le Déjeuner des canotiers}}) is an [[1881 in art|1881]] painting by French [[impressionism|impressionist]] [[Pierre-Auguste Renoir]]. Exhibited at the Seventh Impressionist Exhibition in 1882, it was identified as the best painting in the show by three critics.<ref name=newpaint>{{cite book|title=The New painting, Impressionism, 1874-1886 : an exhibition organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco with the National Gallery of Art, Washington|date=1986|publisher=Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco|location=[San Francisco]|isbn=0884010473|page=[https://archive.org/details/newpaintingimpre00moff/page/379 379]|edition=2nd|url=https://archive.org/details/newpaintingimpre00moff/page/379}}</ref> It was purchased from the artist by the dealer-patron [[Paul Durand-Ruel]] and bought in 1923 (for $125,000) from his son by industrialist [[Duncan Phillips (art collector)|Duncan Phillips]], who spent a decade in pursuit of the work.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/renoir/land/dejeuner-canotiers/|title=WebMuseum: Renoir, Pierre-Auguste: Le déjeuner des canotiers|website=www.ibiblio.org}}</ref><ref name="SI">{{cite news|last1=Panko|first1=Ben|title=Exhibit Sheds New Light on Renoir's "Luncheon of the Boating Party"|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/new-exhibit-looks-behind-and-beneath-famed-renoir-painting-180965178|access-date=11 October 2017|publisher=Smithsonian|date=10 October 2017}}</ref> It is now in [[The Phillips Collection]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref name="TWP-20201124">{{cite news |last=Smee |first=Sebastian |title=At 100, the Phillips Collection doesn't seem to have aged |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/phillips-collection-centennial-announcement-2021/2020/11/23/14f9d7f2-2d99-11eb-bae0-50bb17126614_story.html |date=November 24, 2020 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=November 24, 2020 }}</ref> It shows a richness of form, a fluidity of brush stroke, and a flickering light.

==Description==
The painting, combining figures, still-life, and landscape in one work, depicts a group of Renoir's friends relaxing on a balcony at the [[Maison Fournaise]] restaurant along the [[Seine]] river in [[Chatou]], France. The painter and art patron, [[Gustave Caillebotte]], is seated in the lower right. Renoir's future wife, [[Aline Charigot]], is in the foreground playing with a small dog, an [[affenpinscher]]; she replaced an earlier woman who sat for the painting but with whom Renoir became annoyed.<ref name="SI"/> On the table is fruit and wine.

The diagonal of the railing serves to demarcate the two halves of the composition, one densely packed with figures, the other all but empty, save for the two figures of the proprietor's daughter Louise-Alphonsine Fournaise and her brother, Alphonse Fournaise, Jr, which are made prominent by this contrast. In this painting Renoir has captured a great deal of light. The main focus of light is coming from the large opening in the balcony, beside the large singleted man in the hat. The [[Sleeveless shirt|singlets]] of both men in the foreground and the table-cloth all work together to reflect this light and send it through the whole composition.

The painting is thought to show the influence of  Italian Renaissance painter [[Paolo Veronese]] on Renoir's style, in particular, ''[[The Wedding at Cana (Veronese)|The Wedding Feast at Cana]]'' (1563), one of Renoir's favorite Veronese paintings at the [[Louvre]], which depicts a similar banquet theme to that of the ''Luncheon''.<ref name="barnes">Lucy, Martha. John House (2012). ''Renoir in the Barnes Foundation''. Yale University Press. pp. 8–9. {{ISBN|9780300151008}}. {{oclc|742017633}}.</ref>
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==Interactive image==
{{align|center|{{Renoir-BoatingParty-ImageMap}}}}
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===Subjects depicted===
As he often did in his paintings, Renoir included several of his friends in ''Luncheon of the Boating Party''.<ref name="SI"/> Identification of the sitters was made in 1912 by [[Julius Meier-Graefe]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The New painting, Impressionism, 1874-1886 : an exhibition organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco with the National Gallery of Art, Washington|date=1986|publisher=Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco|location=[San Francisco]|isbn=0884010473|page=[https://archive.org/details/newpaintingimpre00moff/page/412 412]|edition=2nd|url=https://archive.org/details/newpaintingimpre00moff/page/412}}</ref> Among them are the following:<ref>{{cite web|title=Luncheon of the Boating Party|url=http://www.acesart.com/boatingparty/people.htm|publisher=acesart.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725024052/http://www.acesart.com/boatingparty/people.htm|archive-date=25 July 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* The seamstress [[Aline Charigot]], who is holding an [[affenpinscher]] dog, sits near the bottom left of the composition. Renoir married her in 1890, and they had three sons.
* [[Charles Ephrussi]]—wealthy amateur art historian, collector, and editor of the ''[[Gazette des Beaux-Arts]]''—appears wearing a top hat in the background. The younger man to whom Ephrussi appears to be speaking, more casually attired in a brown coat and cap, may be [[Jules Laforgue]], his personal secretary and also a poet and critic.
* Actress [[Ellen Andrée]] drinks from a glass in the center of the composition. Seated across from her is Baron Raoul Barbier, former mayor of colonial Saigon.
* Placed within but peripheral to the party are the proprietor's daughter [[Maison Fournaise|Louise-Alphonsine Fournaise]] and her brother, [[Maison Fournaise|Alphonse Fournaise, Jr.]], both sporting traditional straw boaters and appearing to the left side of the image.  Alphonsine is the smiling woman leaning on the railing; Alphonse, who was responsible for the boat rental, is the leftmost figure.
* Also wearing boaters are figures appearing to be Renoir's close friends Eugène Pierre Lestringez, a bureaucrat, and Paul Lhote, himself an artist. Renoir depicts them flirting with the actress [[Jeanne Samary]] in the upper righthand corner of the painting.
* In the right foreground, [[Gustave Caillebotte]] wears a white boater's shirt and flat-topped straw boater's hat as he sits backwards in his chair next to actress Angèle Legault and journalist  {{Interlanguage link|Adrien Maggiolo|fr|Adrien Maggiolo}} . An art patron, painter, and important figure in the impressionist circle, Caillebotte was also an avid boatman and drew on that subject for several works.
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====[[Close-up]]s====
{{multiple image|align=center|caption_align=center|total_width=800
|header_align=center
|header=''Luncheon of the Boating Party'' - Details of the Women
|image1=Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Luncheon of the Boating Party - Google Art Project (Aline Charigot).jpg
|width1=230
|height1=240
|caption1=[[Aline Charigot]]
|image2=Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Luncheon of the Boating Party - Google Art Project (Angèle Legault).jpg
|width2=590
|height2=651
|caption2=[[Luncheon of the Boating Party#Subjects depicted|Angèle Legault]]
|image3=Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Luncheon of the Boating Party - Google Art Project (Alphonsine Fournaise).jpg
|width3=400
|height3=421
|caption3=[[Maison Fournaise|Louise-Alphonsine Fournaise]]
|image4=Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Luncheon of the Boating Party (Detail of Ellen Andrée).jpg
|width4=344
|height4=600
|caption4=[[Ellen Andrée]]
|image5=Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Luncheon of the Boating Party - Google Art Project (Jeanne Samary).jpg
|width5=330
|height5=431
|caption5=[[Jeanne Samary]]
<!---
|footer_align=center
|footer=by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
--->
}}

{{multiple image|align=center|caption_align=center|total_width=800
|header_align=center
|header=''Luncheon of the Boating Party'' - Details of the Men
|image1=Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Luncheon of the Boating Party - Google Art Project (Alphonse Fournaise).jpg
|width1=595
|height1=621
|caption1=[[Maison Fournaise|Alphonse Fournaise, Jr.]]
|image2=Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Luncheon of the Boating Party - Google Art Project (Pierre Lestringuèz).jpg
|width2=425
|height2=446
|caption2=[[Luncheon of the Boating Party#Subjects depicted|Pierre Lestringuèz]]
|image3=Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Luncheon of the Boating Party - Google Art Project (Paul Lhôte).jpg
|width3=250
|height3=350
|caption3=[[Luncheon of the Boating Party#Subjects depicted|Paul Lhôte]]
|image4=Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Luncheon of the Boating Party - Google Art Project (Jules Laforgue).jpg
|width4=265
|height4=335
|caption4=[[Jules Laforgue]]
|image5=Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Luncheon of the Boating Party - Google Art Project (Antonio Maggiolo).jpg
|width5=455
|height5=646
|caption5=[[Luncheon of the Boating Party#Subjects depicted|Adrien Maggiolo]]
|image6=Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Luncheon of the Boating Party - Google Art Project (Gustave Caillebotte).jpg
|width6=550
|height6=656
|caption6=[[Gustave Caillebotte]]
|image7=Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Luncheon of the Boating Party - Google Art Project (Charles Ephrussi).jpg
|width7=285
|height7=381
|caption7=[[Charles Ephrussi]]
|image8=Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Luncheon of the Boating Party - Google Art Project (Raoul Barbier).jpg
|width8=420
|height8=506
|caption8=[[Luncheon of the Boating Party#Subjects depicted|Raoul Barbier]]
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|footer_align=center
|footer=by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
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}}

=== Actual location ===
The actual location of the scene is [[Maison Fournaise]].
{{multiple image|direction=horizontal|align=center|total_width=800
|image1=Maison Fournaise03.jpg
|width1=1600
|height1=1200
|image2=Maison Fournaise02.jpg
|width2=1600
|height2=1200
|footer_align=center
|footer=The modern-day [[Maison Fournaise|Maison Fournaise restaurant]] along the [[Seine|River Seine]] in [[Chatou]], France.
}}

==Contemporary critical reception==
At the Seventh Impressionist Exhibition in 1882, the painting generally received praise from critics. "It is fresh and free without being too bawdy," wrote Paul de Charry in ''[[Le Pays]]'', March 10, 1882. In ''[[La Vie Moderne]]'' (March 11, 1882), Armand Silvestre wrote, "...one of the best things [Renoir] has painted...There are bits of drawing that are completely remarkable, drawing – true drawing – that is a result of the juxtaposition of hues and not of line. It is one of the most beautiful pieces that this insurrectionist art by Independent artists has produced." Alternatively, {{Lang|fr|[[Le Figaro]]}} published Albert Wolff's comment on March 2, 1882: "If he had learned to draw, Renoir would have a very pretty picture..."<ref>{{cite book|title=The New painting, Impressionism, 1874-1886 : an exhibition organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco with the National Gallery of Art, Washington|date=1986|publisher=Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco|location=[San Francisco]|isbn=0884010473|page=[https://archive.org/details/newpaintingimpre00moff/page/413 413]|edition=2nd|url=https://archive.org/details/newpaintingimpre00moff/page/413}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
*Actor [[Edward G. Robinson]] (1893-1973) is quoted as saying: “For over thirty years I made periodic visits to Renoir's ''Luncheon of the Boating Party'' in a [[The Phillips Collection|Washington museum]], and stood before that magnificent masterpiece hour after hour, day after day, plotting ways to steal it."<ref>Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia: http://www.worldofepicmovies.net/edwardg.htm. Retrieved May 17, 2010</ref>
*A [[Homage (arts)|homage]] to this painting appears in the final panel of ''[[On the False Earths]]'' (1977), the seventh volume of [[Jean-Claude Mézières]] and [[Pierre Christin]]'s long-running [[comic book]] series ''[[Valérian and Laureline]]''.<ref>[http://dugueta.club.fr/references_canotiers.htm ] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060616195535/http://dugueta.club.fr/references_canotiers.htm |date=June 16, 2006 }}</ref>
*The painting was featured prominently in [[Jean-Pierre Jeunet]]'s film ''[[Amélie|Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain]]'' — released in English as ''Amélie'' (2001). The most prominent reference is a comparison between the film's protagonist, Amélie, and the woman in the centre sipping a glass ([[Ellen Andrée]]), seemingly gazing out of the canvas, uninterested, while everyone else is enjoying the day together. The painting and its relationship to Amélie is also featured in the 2015 [[Amélie (musical)|musical version of the film]] in the song "The Girl with the Glass".
*Renoir's creation of the painting is dramatized in [[Susan Vreeland]]'s 2007 novel ''Luncheon of the Boating Party''.

== See also ==
* [[List of paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir]]
* ''[[Lunch at the Restaurant Fournaise]]'', 1879 painting by Renoir
* [[Guinguette]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Luncheon of the Boating Party}}
* [http://www.phillipscollection.org/collection/boating-party ''Luncheon of the Boating Party''] ([[The Phillips Collection]], [[Washington, D.C.]])
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20210224175900/https://sites.google.com/site/beautyandterror/Home/lure-of-lotus-eating Essay on this painting from the book ''Beauty and Terror'' by Brian A. Oard]
* [http://www.artble.com/artists/pierre-auguste_renoir/paintings/luncheon_of_the_boating_party Entry on this painting at Artble]
* {{YouTube|5FUVpoFXDKY|Brief History of the Painting - Video (1:37)}}
{{Pierre-Auguste Renoir}}
{{ACArt}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luncheon Of The Boating Party}}
[[Category:Paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir]]
[[Category:Paintings in the Phillips Collection]]
[[Category:1881 paintings]]
[[Category:Paintings of dogs]]
[[Category:Food and drink paintings]]
[[Category:Genre paintings]]
[[Category:Group portraits by French artists]]
[[Category:Oil on canvas paintings]]
[[Category:River Seine in art]]