I finished reading Susan Vreeland's Luncheon of the Boating Party this morning. In the vein of other recent novels, Vreeland has taken a famous painting and given us a back story about its creation and insight into the subject of the painting. Auguste Renoir is on the cusp of a turning point in his career. He has been challenged by Emile Zola's words about Impressionism being dead. Renoir decides to take on painting a large work that will depict la vie moderne. A painting of fourteen figures grouped around dining tables enjoying the well deserved break of a summer Sunday afternoon.
As Vreeland describe the setting, the models, and their placement I would constantly flip from the text to look at the cover of the book. I matched the story's depiction to the painting itself. I was engrossed in watching the painting develop as the story unfolded.
To be very honest, I had bought this book some time ago, and began reading it but could only get one chapter in when the story lost my attention. I picked it up a second time, but only made it one chapter further. Perhaps a third times a charm, or the right book comes along at the right time for the reader. This story was the one I needed at this moment. I lost myself in the history of Montmarte and the artists and people who inhabited that world. I enjoyed the beauty of the Seine's riverside in late August and early September. I needed that in the dead of a snowy, cold New England winter.
The painting is now housed at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.
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