The exact setting for this picture has not been identified, but it probably shows the River Seine at Chatou, to the west of Paris. Renoir painted a number of “open air” boating scenes on the Seine during the 1870s. In this example, the orange hue of the skiff against the blue of the river exploits the use of complementary colors. Since blue and orange are opposites on the color scale, they become more intense when they are juxtaposed against each other.
The Skiff
oil on canvas • 71 cm x 92 cm
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Pierre-Auguste Renoir