Luncheon of the Boating Party
Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland
My review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
This novel is a fantastic example of ekphrasis, a beautiful love story, a glimpse of an artist's joy and frustration, a meticulously researched historical fiction, and a big, dripping, juicy slice of life. I love how Vreeland gets carried away writing about the senses. When she describes Renoir beginning the painting, mixing colors on the canvas, touching each of his models with his brush, it's gorgeous. Naming the colors of paint is a point of authority for the author, but it's also poetry: rose madder, Prussian blue, vermilion. She does the same thing with food, describing the various luncheons with joy and love. You can feel, as I think Vreeland intends, that the love and passion that goes into painting also goes into the meals Madame Fournaise presents and Gustave sailing and Angele dancing and certainly Susan Vreeland writing.
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