Argenteuil

The Argenteuil (of vertical format) and the Boating (of horizontal format) are two open air genre portraits - rather than landscapes - which Manet painted in August 1874 at Argenteuil. The vertical-format painting is structurally the tighter thanks to its linear components, and is also the richest in motifs and forms. The sketchy horizontal-format picture uses large spaces of glowing colour. We do not know who the women in these paintings are; the man was either Manet’s brother-in-law, the Dutch painter Rodolphe Leenhoff, or Baron Barbier.

This painting, sent to the 1874 Salon, was a radical transformation in Manet’s painting. This was no longer a work invented in the studio on the model of a famous museum piece. It was, on the contrary, proof positive that Manet had joined the Monet-school.