Argenteuil (Manet)

[1][2] It is one of Manet's first works to be regarded as a fully Impressionist painting due to its naturalistic style and its bold palette.

[3] The painting depicts a sailor and his companion sitting on a mooring dock surrounded by sailboats, the deep blue water of the Seine, and the town of Argenteuil on the far bank.

[4]: 353  Art historians have described Argenteuil as a response to Claude Monet's depiction of similar subject matter.

Van Cutsem eventually bequeathed his collection to the city of Tournai, Belgium where the painting currently resides in the Musée des beaux-arts.

The surrounding villages beside the Seine were then full of Impressionist painters; in addition to Manet and Monet, Renoir frequently travelled there and Gustave Caillebotte was based at Petit-Gennevilliers.

[4]: 353 The work depicts a boatman and his companion sitting on a mooring dock surrounded by sailboats, the deep blue water of the Seine, and the town of Argenteuil on the far bank.

[4]: 355  In Argenteuil, Cachin says, Manet masterfully displays "the lively, dazzling style" of the Impressionists while remaining "deliberate, composed.

"[1] Finally, Armstrong argues that Argenteuil, while feminine, faces its masculine counterpart in Manet's painting, Boating.

"[8]: 165  Clark also notes the apparent reflection of the chimney on the water which, on closer inspection, is actually caused by rope hanging from a boat's boom.