An impressionist masterpiece entering the museum is extremely rare. However, this is the fabulous destiny of The Boat Party by Gustave Caillebotte – also called Boater with a Top Hat – a national treasure acquired in 2023 by the State from a private collector thanks to sponsorship of 43 million euros. Here, the artist represents a man who has dropped his jacket but not his hat, rowing athletically on the Yerres; a representation of “modern life” depicting this passion of bourgeois society for water sports. At the time, the painter, too radical, did not find favor in the eyes of critics; Émile Zola will describe his paintings as banal “photographs of reality”. And for good reason, the painter's framing, almost cinematographic, is particularly striking. Here the spectator is not looking at the painting, he has boarded the canoe, facing the rower in full effort. The reflections of the water almost seem to sparkle, as if the paint was still moving. By narrowing his focus on this mysterious stranger, Caillebotte asks us, could this be a portrait of his friend Édouard Manet who came to spend a few days at his family property?

NANTES ARTS MUSEUM
Until June 23, 2024