#7 – Luncheon of the Boating Party by Pierre Auguste Renoir
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. On the table are 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 single man in the hat. The singlets of both men in the foreground and the tablecloth all work together to reflect this light and send it through the whole composition.
First, our attention is cleverly directed by the two men in straw boaters. Alighting on the man seated at the table (extreme right), our eyes follow his gaze to the man standing by the railing (extreme left), whose own gaze we follow along the railing to the man in the top hat. Here our attention is caught by the face and white jacket of the man in the foreground, who leans over the woman in the white hat. The man’s white jacket merges into the white singlet of the original figure, and the circle is complete.
Second, the picture is actually three compositions in one. In the foreground, much of the space is taken up by a still-life painting of bottles, glasses, grapes, and other items. This would have been painted in the studio, using thick layers of paint. The figure painting of the fourteen or so guests (mostly friends or acquaintances of Renoir) who appear throughout the work, would also have been executed in the studio, either singly or in small groups. Loose brushwork is used on these figures in order to suggest movement. Lastly, the background landscape painting and the terrace itself would have been painted in situ – probably the only part of the picture that was done outside the studio.
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