Luncheon of the Boating Party

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.