Pierre-Auguste Renoir

By the early 1880s, Renoir had turned his attention to the subject of informal recreation, an activity which was very prevalent among the elite, especially in the towns on the outskirts of Paris along the Seine.  Monumental works such as his  Le Déjeuner des Canotiers  and La Danse à Bougival captured these idyllic moments of the leisure class.  The present work depicts two ladies out for an afternoon of boating on a calm summer day.  The boat is nestled in the shaded reeds on the bank of the peaceful river, and the seated woman, looking directly at the viewer, makes the scene appear more inviting.  This playful image is exaggerated by fresh, uninhibited strokes of color that Renoir used to depict the figures, the water, the sky and the vegetation.

According to a letter from the Galerie Rosengart, Lucerne, this picture was formerly in the collection of Mme. de Bonnières and in the private collection of Bernheim-Jeune in Paris.  Upon its completion, Renoir gave this watercolor to Mme. de Bonnières, who was the subject of one of his grand portraits.