Boating
1874
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
38 1/4 x 51 1/4 in. (97.2 x 130.2 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
Accession Number
29.100.115
Tags
About this artwork
Boating is an oil painting by French artist Édouard Manet, completed in 1874 and exhibited at the Salon of 1879. The work represents Manet's engagement with Impressionist themes during a pivotal moment in modern art history. The painting depicts a fashionably dressed woman and bearded man in a sailboat on a sunny summer day. The man sits in a blue jacket and straw boater, gripping the tiller, while the woman reclines in pale blue. The composition employs bold diagonal lines and broad color plan...
Art Historical Context
**Boating**, painted by Édouard Manet in 1874, captures a sun-drenched moment of bourgeois leisure on a sailboat gliding through shimmering waters. A fashionably dressed woman reclines in pale blue against the boat's bold blue interior, while a bearded man in a blue jacket and straw boater grips the tiller. Created during a summer stay in Argenteuil alongside Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, the scene reflects the Impressionists' fascination with modern life, outdoor recreation, and fleeting light effects. Manet's oil-on-canvas masterpiece employs striking diagonal lines and flat plane...
About the Artist
Edouard Manet · 1832–1883
Édouard Manet (1832-1883) was a French painter who played a pivotal role in the transition from Realism to Impressionism, often called the 'Father of Modern Art.' Born into a wealthy Parisian family, Manet defied his father's wishes for a legal career to pursue painting, studying under academic artist Thomas Couture. His revolutionary works 'Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe' and 'Olympia' (both 1863) scand...