Luncheon of the Boating Party 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 son by industrialist Duncan Phillips, who spent a decade in pursuit of the work. It is now in The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. It shows a richness of form, a fluidity of brush stroke, and a flickering light. The
The Boating Party her exhibition in 1893 at Durand-Ruel's gallery had been well received (footnote: the exhibition contained 98 items.); and the French state had decided to purchase one of her paintings for the Musée du Luxembourg. "The Boating Party" depicts an unknown woman, a baby and a man in a sailboat. The boat has a canoe stern, is boomless, and has three thwarts. The inside of the boat is described as yellow. It is an unusual painting in Cassatt's œuvre. While it does show her familiar theme of a mother and child, most of her other paintings are set in interiors or