I've come to love Susan Vreeland's historical fiction based on famous works of art. Luncheon of the Boating Party is perhaps my favorite. It is based on Renoir's famous painting Le Dejeuner des Canotiers.
In it, the fourteen people captured enjoying lunch along the Seine in 1880's France, come alive. Each modeled for Renoir for eight Sundays over the course of two months in late summer to complete the painting before the light of summer disappeared. Vreeland brings to life the actual people in the painting, who were friends or aquaintances of Renoir, artists, actresses, lovers, mimes, writers, seamstresses etc. All part of la vie moderne that he wanted to capture a fleeting moment of in his painting.
This was at the time when the group of Impressionists he was a part of was breaking apart. It was the biggest, most ambitious project taken on by any of them. Through Vreeland's brilliant storytelling, the painting comes alive, as well as the time and place. It is like taking a stroll through 19th century Paris and hanging out with friends, enjoying delicious food and wine along the Seine. Wonderful!
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