Renoir, Pierre-Auguste (1841-1919)
Danse à Bougival (Dance at Bougival)
1883
Oil on canvas, 181.9 x 98.1 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The open-air cafés of suburban Bougival, a town on the river Seine west of Paris, were popular recreation spots for city dwellers, including the Impressionists. Here, at one such café—its floor littered with cigarettes, burnt matches, and a small bouquet of flowers—an amateur boatman in a straw hat sweeps his stylish partner along in a waltz. The touch of their gloveless hands, their flushed cheeks and intimate proximity, suggest a sensuous subtext to this scene. The son of a dressmaker and a tailor, Renoir delighted in capturing intricate details of contemporary fashions, such as the woman’s red bonnet trimmed with purple fruits. (MFA)