Régates à Argenteuil

White sails, green banks and houses break into flickering strokes on the water. In this small Seine scene, Monet painted light itself before Impressionism even had a name.

The story behind the painting

Monet lived with his family in Argenteuil, near Paris, from 1871 to 1878. Of the roughly 170 paintings he made there, about half show the Seine. Regattas had become fashionable in France in the mid nineteenth century, and once the railway arrived, Argenteuil became a popular retreat for Parisians, with regattas held since 1850 drawing Sunday crowds. Monet painted Regattas at Argenteuil around 1872. He may have used the studio boat he had built for himself, the one Edouard Manet showed in Claude Monet Painting in his Studio, which would explain the low viewpoint of many of his Argenteuil pictures. In 1876 the painter and collector Gustave Caillebotte bought the canvas from Monet.

What to look for

The scene shows a regatta of sailboats on the Seine near the town, where the river widens almost into a lake. The painting is famous for the spontaneity of its gesture. Monet leaves out black and builds the bright boats from horizontal strokes of pure color set side by side. The effect is strongest in the reflections, where the shapes of the sails, the green bank and the houses shimmer vividly in the water. The houses, sails and trees become zones of color that break apart and repeat below. Complementary colors placed next to each other give the small canvas, 48 by 75 cm, its strength.

Meaning and intent

Although the Impressionist movement was founded only a few years later, this painting already shows all the features of the style. Monet was especially interested in the meeting of light and water. What he tries to pass on is the quality of light he observed, through relationships of value and color rather than careful outlines. Painting outdoors and from direct observation, he lets the broken brushstroke express the brightness of the river. The subject is a leisure scene, but the true subject is the moment of seeing.

Legacy

The painting's journey follows the rise of Impressionism into public collections. It came to the French State in 1894 through Caillebotte's bequest and was shown at the Musee du Luxembourg. It moved to the Louvre in 1929, to the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume in 1947, and finally, in 1986, to the Musee d'Orsay, where it hangs today. In 1965 it traveled to Lisbon for the exhibition A Century of French Painting 1850-1950, organized by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Standing before it, you can still feel the Sunday breeze over the Seine.

Le saviez-vous ?

Painted around 1872, during Monet's years in Argenteuil, 1871-1878 (French Wikipedia)
Bought by Gustave Caillebotte in 1876 and entered the State through his bequest (French Wikipedia)
At the Musee d'Orsay since 1986; size 48 x 75 cm (Wikidata)

Wikipedia · Wikidata