Why it matters
Renoir shows a group of his friends relaxing on the balcony of the Maison Fournaise restaurant on the Seine at Chatou, combining figures, still life and landscape in one work. At the Seventh Impressionist Exhibition in 1882, three critics named it the best painting in the show.
Did you know?
- The painter Gustave Caillebotte is seated at the lower right.
- Renoir's future wife, Aline Charigot, plays with a small dog in the foreground.
- Duncan Phillips spent a decade pursuing the painting and bought it in 1923 for $125,000.
Based on the Wikipedia article Luncheon of the Boating Party (CC BY-SA 4.0).
