9781422271797

MASTERS OF ART

PLATE 6 La Grenouillère (c. 1869) Oil on canvas, 23 1 ⁄ 4 x 31 1 ⁄

2 inches (59 x 80 cm)

Although painted around the same time as the previous work, Renoir here reveals an evident progress toward Impressionism. Perhaps this not surprising, given that he painted with Monet at that time, and La Grenouillère was a favorite recreation spot for Parisians. La Grenouillère was on Croissy Island in the Seine near Bougival and was, as said in a contemporary report, “inhabited by a swarm of writers, men, and women belonging to the artistic life of Paris ... along the banks at certain hours of the day, sometimes fishing, sometimes for the pleasure of bathing in open water.” It became a social fad when Louis Napoléon and Eugénie condescended to visit the place in 1869. Monet and Renoir, neither of whom was permanently located, naturally gravitated there and painted side by side, each influencing the other to some degree. It was a preparatory stage in the evolution that took definite form at Argenteuil in the early 1870s.

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