Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party

Susan Vreeland's latest novel, Luncheon of the Boating Party, follows the creative process surrounding Auguste Renoir's masterpiece of the same name. This is fascinating historical fiction that looks at Renoir's bold decision, and perhaps egotistical one, to create a painting of massive proportions that he believed would "blow the whole stuffy Salon apart with an assimilation of styles they won't dare deny is genius." The painting depicts 13 models, an unlucky number that worried Renoir, which made the task that much more daunting. One might think that the story surrounding one painting would not be enough material for an interesting novel, but Susan Vreeland is one of the master's of this genre, as she proved in Girl in Hyacinth Blue. Highly recommended!