Boating1874
A man in a straw boater and white flannels sits at the tiller of a sailing boat, glancing towards us, while a woman in a striped blue dress and veiled hat sits beside him. More about this work
About this work
A man in a straw boater and white flannels sits at the tiller of a sailing boat, glancing towards us, while a woman in a striped blue dress and veiled hat sits beside him. Manet painted the scene in the summer of 1874 near Argenteuil on the Seine, where he worked alongside Monet and absorbed something of the Impressionists’ bright palette and outdoor subjects. The blue of the water fills the whole background, with no horizon or sky, a flattening of space that recalls Japanese prints. It was shown at the Salon of 1879.
Written by Ochre Editions.
How it was made
- Oil paint
- Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.
Édouard Manet
French, 1832–1883 · Born and died in Paris.
Manet came from a prosperous Parisian family, trained under Thomas Couture and studied the old masters, Velázquez above all. In the 1860s he provoked critics with Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe and Olympia, modern subjects painted in flat, frank colour with little modelling. Though he never showed with the Impressionists, younger painters looked to him as a leader, and in his last years he painted Parisian café life and A Bar at the Folies-Bergère.
Written by Ochre Editions.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Met has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 29.100.115
- Credit
- Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Type
- Paintings
- Department
- European Paintings
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
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