The Luncheon of the Boating Party: Artwork Analysis

Oil on canvas, The Luncheon of the Boating Party, an art created by one of
the best artists in late 1800`s. Pierre-Auguste Renoir, an impressionist especially
known for his use of bright colors and short strokes of paint, and for painting out-of-
doors. This painting depicts a group of Renoir`s friends relaxing on a balcony along
Seine River in France. In this painting Renoir has captured the joy of his friends at a
lakeside boating resort at the French middle class of late 19 th century located just
outside of Paris.

As an analysis, I think one of Renoir`s targets regarding this painting was to

point out exactly this social freedom and I think that he succeeded very well. As he
includes a wealth of people, objects, and even a puppy. These people are so relaxed
and even these two young men who just wearing their undershirts are the best
example for this kind of understanding to the painting and the atmosphere in which it
was created. Now, I`ll try to analyze the painting and speak about its visual
characteristics. First, the different colors of foliage beyond the deck is so good that
looks so natural, the artist had also used a variety of colors to depict the light
reflected from the white tablecloth and napkins. I also see that this young man in
undershirt who is straddling the chair was Caillebotte, an artist friend who also
become famous as the time passed by. These short strokes of paint that he used to
include the glimpse of the river view was so amazing knowing that these things help
to enhance your interpretation. The colors adopted by Renoir are very rich,
contrasting the deep blue and green with vivid red and greens. Brimming with color,
this painting reflects both the time period and impressionist style. His palette also
contains many golden tones and the young women`s fair skin is kindly reddened
from the sun and their hats and bare arms are further evidence of warm day. I also
noticed the relationships between and among the people. On the near right, the
young woman is looking at Caillebotte the man who’s wearing a hat. Hovering over
her is a man looking at her. Sometimes I think that they could be flirting.
The more I look at this painting the wilder it gets. Now, I am starting to notice
how the group of three including Caillebotte forms a kind of triangle. These are some
kind of lines of sight among three people that add another interest to the
composition. As I learned in my research, there are also another triangle in which we
can see artist Paul Lhote and Eugene Pierre Lestriguez, which both something
flirting with actress Jeanne Samary. We can also see the third triangle made by two
men and a woman but now I didn’t know what are their names are since I can’t find a
proper information about the people in the painting.

Renoir made the one of the best paintings in the world which exhibits
impressionism at its best. The famous artwork now lies at the one of the great
galleries of the world, the Phillips Collection at Washington DC as one of the most
famous artworks displays. So as Pierre-Auguste Renoir said “Art is about emotion; if
art needs to be explained it is no longer art”.