The open-air cafés of suburban Bougival, a town on the river Seine west of Paris, were popular recreation spots for city dwellers, including the Impressionists.
Here, at one such café - its floor littered with cigarettes, burnt matches, and a small bouquet of flowers-an amateur boatman in a straw hat sweeps his stylish partner along in a waltz.
The touch of their gloveless hands, their flushed cheeks and intimate proximity, suggest a sensuous subtext to this scene.
The son of a dressmaker and a tailor, Renoir delighted in capturing intricate details of contemporary fashions, such as the woman’s red bonnet trimmed with purple fruits. | Source: © Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Dance at Bougival, 1883 | Museum of Fine Arts Boston