Edouard Manet

Boating is an oil-on-canvas painting by French artist Édouard Manet. The painting depicts a man and woman on a sailboat during the summertime. It was painted in the summer of 1874, during which time Manet was staying on his family's property in Gennevilliers. Art historians have suggested that the woman may be Camille Monet, while the man has often been identified as Manet's brother-in-law Rodolphe Leenhoff. Boating is often cited as Manet's foray into Impressionism based on its brushwork and subject matter. While Manet did not call himself an Impressionist, he often showed his paintings in galleries with other Impressionists. He was friends with many artists of time who did consider themselves to be a part of the impressionist movement. The work was shown in the Salon of 1879. Mary Mathews Gedo, a former clinical psychologist turned art historian, has described Boating as "quintessentially Monet Esque". It is currently displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in Gallery 818.