Illuminating the joys of life

Strange as it may seem, there was a time when the French Impressionist painters were unpopular, their techniques ridiculed and their works despised. Fashions change, and in our day Impressionist paintings are the epitome of good taste; prints of the works of Monet, Pisarro, Seurat, and their friends adorn countless walls, calendars, and greeting cards. But when the young French painters of the third quarter of the 19th century began their search for a new way of painting, an attempt to recreate, not the literal image of a time or place, but the “impression” thereof, the tastemakers of the day rejected their works. Although the Impressionists sought to exhibit their work in the prestigious Royal Academy Salon, critics balked at what seemed to them to be sloppy technique and an unfinished look, and their works were rejected. Undaunted, the Impressionists opened their own exhibition in 1874.

Although they struggled at the start—they often lived in poverty, and their first exhibition was a financial disaster—most of the Impressionists eventually gained acceptance among dealers, patrons, and collectors. Undoubtedly much of their perseverance can be attributed to their strong sense of camaraderie. The Impressionists were not artist-outcasts, working in solitude; they were a friendly group who spent much time together, theorizing and debating. They encouraged each other, posed in each others’ paintings, and gave each other the emotional support that aided their eventual success.

Is it any wonder, then, that so many of the best paintings of the Impressionists are so lively, bright, and positive? The supreme example of this mood is probably Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party, painted in 1881. Renoir creates the perfect image of a happy, carefree group of friends enjoying each other’s company. Renoir depicted several of his friends and acquaintances in this picture: his fellow painter Gustave Caillebotte, seated on the right; Ellen Andrée, an actress, at the far end of the table; and Aline Charigot, Renoir’s future wife, holding the little dog at left, are only a few of the many identifiable people.

The key technical innovations of the Impressionists were their handling of color and light. In this picture Renoir captures the diffuse light of a hazy summer afternoon on the river. Glimpses of the Seine in the distance indicate that Renoir is depicting a sunny day. But under the awning, the luncheon table is shaded and cool. Renoir’s handling of color, much different from the blank reds and blues of the Old Masters or the dim and murky browns of painters such as Rembrandt, surely contribute to the enduring popularity of the Impressionists’ works.

Another contributing factor is the subject matter. The Impressionists rarely painted the mythological or historical subjects favored by the French Royal Academy. Instead, they painted sunny landscapes, people enjoying themselves in the great outdoors, and similar images of pleasant times. Theirs is a positive, life-affirming, optimistic art. Art historian Kenneth Clark uses this painting by Renoir as an example when he reflects on what makes Impressionist art special in his book Landscape Into Art (1949): “Impressionism achieved more than a technical advance. It expressed a real and valuable ethical position. Impressionism is the perfect expression of democratic humanism, of the good life. What pleasure could be simpler or more eternal than those portrayed in Renoir’s [Luncheon] of the Boating Party?”

Although nearly all the Impressionists’ works are entirely secular in nature, the ethical philosophy affirmed therein—of life’s fundamental goodness—can be easily appreciated by Christians who see existence as a gift from God. Eating good food, enjoying the pleasures of friends, enjoying the outdoors: These are all good gifts from a God who delights in giving good gifts. And in today’s world of pervasive loneliness, social alienation, and lives lived increasingly in front of screens, a painting like Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party is an important reminder that the simple pleasures of embodied existence are worth pursuing. And for creative people, it also serves as an encouragement to find groups of like-minded people who share one’s creative zeal.

—William Collen is an independent researcher who writes RUINS, a Substack blog discussing art and aesthetics from a Christian perspective