Boat Moored on the Seine at Argenteuil (Bateau au mouillage sur la Seine, à Argenteuil)

Gustave Caillebotte was of crucial importance to the Impressionists as a collector, but he was also a major painter in his own right. From the early 1880s, he increasingly painted outdoors, producing some 35 paintings of sailboats on the river Seine. This image was painted at the favorite Impressionist location of Argenteuil (see Monet's "Snow at Argenteuil"). Caillebotte's composition is notable for its sense of geometry. The vertical line of the boat mast is echoed by the distant smokestack and contrasts with the strong horizontal of the furled sail. The luminous color and thick, impasto brushwork, particularly in the shimmering white reflections, wonderfully evoke the heat of a summer's day. Caillebotte was an avid sailor, and this image may represent one of his own yachts.