Boat Moored on the Seine at Argenteuil

Posted by Maverick ~ on March 16, 2018
Posted in: Art, Music, Photography. Tagged: , , , , , .

Boat Moored on the Seine at Argenteuil
Gustave Caillebotte
Oil on canvas (About 1884)

This vertically formatted marine depicts a sailboat with a blue and pink hull and white, furled-up sail moored on the Seine river in the Parisian suburb of Argenteuil. A grassy bank with thin tree branches occupies the foreground. The river Seine and sailboat dominate the middle ground, occupying about half of the composition. Low, nondescript white and yellow buildings and a smokestack occupy the opposite bank under a cloudless blue-gray sky. The painting’s surface is animated by short, rapidly applied, directional brushstrokes; thick areas of impasto are visible throughout, particularly in the boat’s scintillating reflections on the water.

In addition to working as a leading Impressionist painter, Gustave Caillebotte developed a serious passion for sailing. He was not only a national sailing champion, but also one of France’s leading yacht designers.

In this work, the subject is one of Caillebotte’s lightweight sailboats moored on the Seine in front of his home. Caillebotte devoted marked attention to capturing the brilliant reflection of light dancing on the water, rendered in thick strokes of white paint.

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8 comments on “Boat Moored on the Seine at Argenteuil”

  2. I’ve noticed something about a number of the comments accompanying the art. A lot is given to just a literal description at what one is looking at. For example the majority of the first paragraph describes what you are looking at as if you can’t see it yourself, 71 word to be exact which represents 41% of everything written about the painting. Just seems kind of strange to look at a painting them have someone tell you what you saw.

    Liked by 1 person

    • That’s a good observation David. 🙂 When I was the editor for a cattle publication I always tried to approach it as if the reader knew nothing about cattle. Not because the readers were dumb but many were new to owning cattle and inexperienced. Perhaps that may be the art gallery’s thinking.

      Liked by 1 person

      • You have a good point. I used to write policy and operating procedures manuals over 350 offices in 30+ states and took the same approach as you. I took the approach that the readers were ignorant (in the definitive sense of the word – not derogatory) and start with the very basics and build from that.

        I guess the detailed description of the art could be viewed as a teaching point, helping one see the individual elements as well as the whole, but it seems so very, very basic and elementary. I guess it’s just my preference that I’d rather there be more interpretation and less telling me what I think is the obvious.

        Liked by 2 people

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