But one cannot imagine these women, as they are here, having been painted by anybody else. They have the free and easy manners one would expect of young women who have lunched and are enjoying themselves with a group of young men, but they also have that graciousness, that roguish charm, which Renoir alone could give to women.
-Theodore Duret. Renoir, Paris, 1924
Theodore Duret describes what is quite possibly Renoir’s most famous work, Luncheon of the Boating Party. He mentions that the women are distinctly Renoir’s women by the element of mystery in their charisma, in addition to the fact that they are enjoying themselves. The painting pictures many of Renoir’s women in this manner, and, like his other crowd of people work, Le Moulin de la Galette, Luncheon of the Boating Party is thought to be one of Renoir’s most happy paintings. The way that the light shines through the awning onto the brightly colored clothing of the people is thought to reflect the good time that the people are having. The many people are enjoying each other’s company having lunch.
Yet, is Duret correct in all of his statements? Is this work truly happy and are these women characteristically Renoir’s by their mystery, or instead by their failure to look happy? Looking closer at the lips and eyes of the people, we see again Renoir’s discomfort with the mixing of social classes. Pictured are rowers, women of higher social standing, working-class women, waiters, and upperclass men. Jean Renoir acknowledges the identities of the models in his book. They include many of Renoir’s painter friends, some of his pretty girl models used in other paintings, and most notably, his future wife, Aline Charigot in the bottom left corner. What is most interesting is the apparent relationships between the people in this painting. In fact, examining the placement of their lips and where they are looking shows that there are no connections really between any of the people depicted. Some people smile, yes, as the happy Aline does in Dance in the Country, but no eyes meet. The smiling girl leaning on the side fence looks at the waiter, but he looks at the woman beneath him, while she looks at the rower straddling the chair, who looks at the woman in the left corner, and so on. It is a significant part of the painting. Even with such a large number of people, no one looks at each other.
There is one exception to this statement, however. The woman in the bottom left corner, Renoir’s future wife, looks happily at her dog, and the dog appears to look back. According to Neret, it is Aline looking at her dog Bob (Neret). This reinforces the idea that Renoir felt most comfortable with Aline. Of all his dancing women and of all the women in this painting, Luncheon of the Boating Party, he could not allow any to have such a good time as Aline. At the time when he painted this painting, he was already involved with her. In fact, it is thought of as a turning point in his life (Rouart). As a result, he paints her happily and the others not so. Their failed return of glances gives all the people but Aline a sense of rejection.
Thus, this famous painting, although thought of as one of Renoir’s happiest works, is really another depiction of his social uneasiness. Only in Aline, who enjoys the gaze of her dog Bob, can he find comfort.
Pictured is Madame Renoir and her dog Bob, sitting very happilly on the grass.
Renoir, Auguste. Luncheon of the Boating Party. The Phillips Collection, Washington. 1881
Renoir, Auguste. A Woman with A Dog (Portrait of Madame Renoir). 1880. Oil on canvas. Private collection, Paris, France.