Regatta at Argenteuil

Auguste Renoir

National Gallery of Art

Sailboats line a grassy riverbank in this loosely painted horizontal landscape. Vivid blue water stretches before us to meet a verdant bank along the left third of the horizon, which comes less than halfway up the composition. About a dozen people standing in the grass are painted with a few strokes each of white or dark blue. One sailboat dominates the scene just right of center, and about half a dozen more sailboats are spaced farther back in the landscape beyond it. A flagpole rises along the left edge of the painting. The water and sky are thinly painted, and areas of the tan-colored, textured canvas are visible, especially in the sky.