Luncheon of the Boating Party is one of the most beautiful pieces that this insurrectionist art by Independent artists has produced." Alternatively, "Le Figaro" published Albert Wolff's comment on March 2, 1882: "If he had learned to draw, Renoir would have a very pretty picture..." Luncheon of the Boating Party Luncheon of the Boating Party (1881; ) is a painting by French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Included in the Seventh Impressionist Exhibition in 1882, it was identified as the best painting in the show by three critics. It was purchased from the artist by the dealer-patron Paul Durand-Ruel and bought in 1923 (for $125,000) from his
Luncheon in the Studio saying to us: Look at me!... Thus, no expression, no feeling, no composition." He spoke of "types without character, scenes devoid of all interest" and said disparagingly (yet insightfully from the point of view of modern criticism) that "Manet had made the portrait of a "Balcony" and a "Luncheon"". Meyers finds the depiction of Leenhoff similar in some respects to an 1855 portrait by Edgar Degas of his brother, "Achille De Gas in the Uniform of a Cadet". They share the leaning pose, the presence of swords, and facial characteristics. He further suggests that, by borrowing from the Degas work,