Luncheon of the Boating Party

Susan Vreeland

2007 • 448 pages

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From the bestelling author of GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE, "A vivid exploration of one of the most beloved Renoir paintings in the world, done with a flourish worthy of Renoir himself" (USA Today) With her richly textured novels, Susan Vreeland has offered pioneering portraits of artists' lives. As she did in Girl in Hyacinth Blue, Vreeland focuses on a single painting, Auguste Renoir's instantly recognizable masterpiece, which depicts a gathering of Renoir's real friends enjoying a summer Sunday on a café terrace along the Seine. Narrated by Renoir and seven of the models, the novel illuminates the gusto, hedonism, and art of the era. With a gorgeous palette of vibrant, captivating characters, Vreeland paints their lives, loves, losses, and triumphs so vividly that "the painting literally comes alive" (The Boston Globe).

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Deb Nance

For our book club this month we were asked to pick a book by Susan Vreeland and read it. I picked Luncheon of the Boating Party because (1) it is based on a painting I love and (2) it takes place just outside of Paris. I didn't know much about Renoir before I read this book, but now I think I could write his biography.

Renoir sets out to challenge Zola's thought that the Impressionist painters were finished creatively when he decides to bring thirteen (oh, how he longs to find a fourteenth friend to offset the negative image of a contemporary Last Supper) of his friends to the country and have them pose for what he hopes will be his masterwork. This book tells his story, as well as the stories of his friends and the story of the France of his day and his fellow painters of his time.

Every sentence in the book reflects the author's intensive research; you can't help but learn a lot from reading this book.

March 17, 2019