Chatou of the Maison Fournaise, a meeting place for Impressionist painters in the past. It was a place where Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted numerous pieces (portraits of the Fournaise family, surrounding landscapes etc.), most notably the "Déjeuner des canotiers (Luncheon of the Boating Party)" in 1881. The painting is today part of the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. On August 25, 1944, in Chatou, the nazis shot 27 people, civilians and members of the French Resistance. This event is today known as the "Massacre des 27 Martyrs". Chatou is served by Chatou – Croissy station on Paris RER line A. The community
The Boating Party bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum, but some works were left to the Havemeyer children and have since ended up elsewhere. Art historian and museum administrator Frederick A. Sweet calls it "One of the most ambitious paintings she ever attempted". His 1966 analysis focusses on the balance of the "powerful dark silhouette of the boatman", the angle between the oar and the arm that "thrusts powerfully into the centre of the composition towards the mother and child" and "delicate, feminine ones". Cassatt placed the horizon at the top of the frame in Japanese fashion. colorplate 75 35 7/16x46 1/8 in. (90