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    Luncheon of the Boating Party
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    Luncheon of the Boating Party
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    Luncheon of the Boating Party
    Audiobook16 hours

    Luncheon of the Boating Party

    Written by Susan Vreeland

    Narrated by Karen White

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    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. Now, as she did in Girl in Hyacinth Blue, Vreeland once again 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).
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMay 3, 2007
    ISBN9781429586122
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for Luncheon of the Boating Party

    3.5/5

    196 ratings17 reviews

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    • 5/5
      And thus began my true appreciation of the Impressionist movement. Wonderful book about Renoir.
    • 1/5
      Trying to read it... it's for book discussion group... we shall see.
    • 5/5
      One of my all time favorite books. It combines several of my passions, art, reading and France. It tells the story of how the painting "Luncheon of the Boating Party" came about. It's partly fiction, but it certainly could have happened that way. The characters are real. Make sure you have a copy of the painting handy as you read the book. The book captures the specifics and the beautiful atmosphere of the painting just as well as the artist did. 
    • 3/5
      Audio book performed by Karen White
      3***

      In the summer of 1880 Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted what was to become one of his most instantly recognizable masterpieces, depicting a gathering of friends enjoying an afternoon on a café terrace along the Seine near Paris. His fourteen models included, among others, a famous painter, an art collector, a celebrated actress, the café owner’s daughter, a war hero, an Italian journalist, and a laundress. This was shortly after the Franco-Prussian war, and social constraints were loosening as Parisians embraced la vie moderne – pursuing pleasure and striving for a joyful life. It was also a time when the Impressionist group was being torn apart by diverging viewpoints and changing styles.

      Vreeland has written several novels about the world of art - The Forest Lover (about Emily Carr), The Girl in Hyacinth Blue (about a Vermeer painting) and Clara and Mr Tiffany (about Tiffany’s decorative arts studio). She bases her works of fiction on solid research into the life and times of the artist/artwork, and uses her imagination to embellish the details of conversation, thoughts and feelings to make the scenes come alive. The word portraits she “paints” are as vivid as the works on art which inspire her. Using seven different characters to narrate this work gives us a broader perspective on the era and helps the reader understand the significance of the exciting changes Renoir’s painting conveyed. However, I found my mind wandering and I did not feel as connected to the people (or the art) as I have in other novels by Vreeland.

      I wonder if this is because I listened to the audio rather than read the text. Karen White does a credible job on the audio – her pacing is good, her pronunciation of French apparently accurate (I don’t speak French, so how would I know, really). Still, the art of which Vreeland writes is a visual medium and I can’t help but wonder if I would have been more engaged if I had been using my eyes rather than listening.

      Vreeland begins with a quote: To my mind, a picture should be something pleasant, cheerful, and pretty, yes pretty! There are too many unpleasant things in life as it is without creating still more of them. - Pierre-Auguste Renoir
      I did have the hardcover edition of the book handy, which has several color plate reproductions of not only Le dejeuner des canotiers but other Renoir paintings also referenced in the novel. I found myself constantly referring to the paintings, studying the composition and use of color, noticing how a daub of white here or a streak of lavender there would enhance and define the figures, the setting, and the artist’s vision. And I must thank Vreeland for calling my attention to these details and helping me understand what made Renoir’s work more than a just a pretty painting, but a masterpiece. As for the novel, in my opinion it is a pretty book – pleasing and enjoyable, but not a masterpiece.

    • 4/5
      Although I usually hate fictionalized biography, I enjoyed this imagined account of Renoir's painting of one of his best-known works, and, unexpectedly, enjoy the painting itself more now that I know something about the background of its setting and real-life models. It is a warm and sunny painting, and Vreeland's book captures its spirit.
    • 2/5
      Reading this novel about Renoir's creation of his famous painting was like watching paint dry. Oof! Vreeland gives us tons of information about the artist, his lifestyle and the models that he used for the painting; but the novel moves at a snail's pace. If I hadn't had to read it for my reading group I never would have finished. Yes, I learned things about Renoir and his Impressionist group but oh! this book could have used some editing.
    • 4/5
      If you like Tracy Chevalier you'll probably enjoy Vreeland's works. This is a realistically imaginative account of a portion of Renoir's life involving his creation of one of his best known works, The Luncheon of the Boating Party, a painting of his friends dining and enjoying life on the balcony of the Maison Fournaise restaurant, in a changing French society of the late 1800's.
    • 5/5
      What a great story! The author actually researched every person in the painting Luncheon of the Boating Party (except 1 whose identity is debatable) and Renoir himself, and made it all into a super cool historical fiction story. The story spans the 2 months Renoir took to paint it outside. Even though there are 14 people in the painting, Renoir, the paint store owners, and art dealers stories to hear, it didn't drag.My favorite part was a story about the girl who's leaning on her hand on the railing in the painting. She recalls starving in her house during Franco-Prussian War (before the painting). She was lucky to get horse meat rationed to her. During the painting she decides to go back to that old house and finds it's now a food store. She goes inside and has an incredible moment looking at all this food and remembering starving on the floor. It was a moving scene.Also I learned that Renoir and Monet were friends in real life! Whoa. What a time.If you enjoy art or historical fiction you will probably like Luncheon of the Boating Party.
    • 3/5
      Essentially the story of how August Renoir came to paint this painting, "Luncheon of the Boating Party", and the people he chose to include in the painting. Along the way, the reader is treated to French history, art history, culinary scenes guaranteed to make you hungry, art lessons, and an engaging view of "la vie moderne". Our book club all decided it could have done with between 50-100 less pages.There were 14 people in this painting, including Renoir's future wife, and it was hard at the beginning to sort out who was who. I was able to get a 'map' of the painting from the Phillips Collection website (in Washington DC where the painting now lives). With that in hand, I was able to enjoy the author's framework...she tells the story of how impressionism was under attack at the time, how the artists had to resort to various painting endeavors to make enough money to live on, and were always in debt. The lives of boaters, restaurateurs, mimes, seamstresses, actresses are all told as vividly as the painting. We also learn how the painting is constructed from the time the canvas is stretched until it is finished. Included is the story of the beginning of the modern art gallery dealer model we still have today. A definite read for anyone who is Renoir fan.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this fictionalized glimpse into Renoir's life as he went about painting Luncheon of the Boating Party. It opened my eyes into how much work and soul went into a piece of art. Plus, reading about Renoir's personal life was vastly interesting.
    • 4/5
      Luncheon of the Boating Party. Susan Vreeland. 2007. What a wonderful book for a painter and a Francophile to read! It is the story based on fact of how Auguste Renoir decided to paint the picture of “Luncheon of the Boating Party,” I loved the descriptions of Renoir’s actual painting, his ideas about art and painting, and the birth of the Impressionist movement. At first I got the people confused but I went online to the Phillips Collection in DC and found a “map” of the picture and wrote in all the names on the painting. This novel is for people who like to read about painting and late 19th century Paris.
    • 4/5
      The Impressionists, Renoir, convivial gatherings along the Seine, various shades of love, the birth of a masterpiece, and visuals, visuals, visuals. What's not to love? I started this one last year and got sidetracked by other books that had firm deadlines but kept sneaking back to this whenever I had a spare moment to sink into it. And in all fairness, that is not the way to read this expansive and lush novel. The way to read it is what I did for the second half: luxuriate in it and it alone.At the opening of the novel, Renoir is just about penniless and desperate to create a new painting that will answer the criticism that the Impressionists as a group are incapable of the kind of important, lasting work that they have striven for in their break with traditional French art. Renoir's vision is a statement definitively refuting this while getting his work hung in the prestigious Paris Salon. Choosing to paint the aftermath of a vibrant, genial luncheon composed of friends and models, the painting is larger in scope than anything the Impressionists have attempted before. The novel tells the tale of the conception and execution of the painting as well as the tales of the people involved, touching on the terrible recent history post Franco-Prussian War, the different sections of Paris, class distinction, and enduring love.The different characters in the painting all revolve around the character of Renoir; he being, in many cases, their only tie to each other. But amazingly, considering the sheer number of models posing, Vreeland manages to make them distinct personalities with different back stories and all come off as sympathetic. She manages to tie in much history without the book coming off as textbookish. Her research both into the art, Renoir's life, and the local Paris times is obviously thorough and well done. The writing is lush and very visual and will make the reader wish to be at the idyllic Maison Fournaise on the Seine as well. There seems to be a sun-dappled wash over the whole of the book. The end of the book is never in any doubt (after all, the painting is on the cover of the book) and Renoir's life is fairly well documented. But the journey with these characters, the gentleness of the love stories and disappointments, and the insight into Renoir's artistic genius, makes this a welcome and appealing read. Fans of fictionalized art histories will love this one but even those with no interest in the Impressionists will find much to please them in these pages.
    • 4/5
      In this well-researched historical novel, Vreeland tells the story of Renoir’s greatest painting through the difficulties he encountered in creating it, the people pictured in it, the women who loved him and the one he will choose to marry. The book brings to life la vie moderne in 1880’s Paris, the intricacies of painting in general and the Impressionists’ work in particular, and the art world when Impressionists had broken the back of the traditional French art establishment and were setting out in the various directions that their work ultimately took them. It examines class, theater, social mores and the effects of the Franco-Prussian war on the French people, all through the eyes of characters who were once themselves real people. And Vreeland doesn’t leave out food or sailing, either. Each chapter is itself a painting of a world that the reader will be happy to step into and savor for a while.
    • 4/5
      Luncheon of the Boating Party is a truly excellent book. Set in the Summer of 1880 in Paris and Chatou, the novel follows the story of the famous painting by Auguste Renoir, now in the Phillips Collection in DC. Egged on by an article written by Emile Zola, Renoir begins painting an idyllic scene on the balcony of the Maison Fournaise, of thirteen friends. The story is intriguing because it’s told from the point of view not just of Renoir, but the models in the painting. We’re introduced, for example, to Augustine Fournaise, daughter of the owner of the restaurant, and Gustave Caillebotte the artist. We also meet Aline Charigot, the seamstress who later married Renoir. The iconic painting represents a mingling of classes as they devote a Sunday to the pursuit of leisure.In all of this, Vreeland creates a beautiful novel that combines the realistic with the idealistic. We’re also introduced to the fascinating artistic process Renoir’s mind went through. It’s a well-written and researched novel. Vreeland is in her element when she writes about art, and Luncheon of the Boating Party is no exception. What helps is that the painting appears right on the cover—I guarantee you’ll turn back to the painting many times as you read. There are also illustrations inside, including a map of Paris and Chatou.
    • 4/5
      A remarkable genre painting between two covers, with endearing figures, a still life, a landscape, and even a dog, "Luncheon of the Boating Party exposes the technical and personal challenges that Renoir faced. I appreciate both his achievement and the Impressionist era much more now.
    • 1/5
      One of the most boring books that I've begun in a long time. I couldn't even bring myself to finish the whole thing.
    • 1/5
      Okay, so I didn't actually finish this one. I didn't even get past the first paragraph of the first chapter. Even reading so little was enough to make me gag. Seeing the author at Powell's, 5/22/2007, did not make me any more interested in reading anything else by her ever again. Especially after she said, "[Impressionist paintings] weren't painted with brushes, they were painted with love." Barf!!