La Grenouillière

Located on the Seine to the west of Paris, La Grenouillère, or “the frog pond,” lured flocks of Parisians who wished to escape the clamor of city life for an afternoon of boating and bathing. Whereas Impressionists such as Monet and Renoir painted sun-dappled scenes of camaraderie at the popular attraction in the late 1860s, Vlaminck presents a single, faceless woman partaking of a rare moment of serenity at the deserted site. Vlaminck’s work is distinguished by energetic paint handling: a thick application of vertical, diagonal, and curling strokes defines the simple architecture of wood structures, the recession of paths, and the foliage of shade trees.