Description
Banks of the Seine at Argenteuil is a summer scene Manet painted in 1874: on a grassy bank a young woman in a long white dress and a small child in a straw hat look out at sailing boats moored on the blue, glittering river. The original is oil on canvas, 62.3 x 103 cm; it is privately owned and has been on long-term loan to The Courtauld Gallery in London since 1997. Our painter paints it for you by hand in oil on canvas, in 8 landscape sizes from 50 x 30 to 190 x 110 cm, or made to measure. Before it ships, we send you a photograph of the finished river scene.
| Title: | Banks of the Seine at Argenteuil |
| Other titles: | Bords de Seine à Argenteuil (French title) · The Seine at Argenteuil |
| Painter: | Édouard Manet (1832–1883) |
| Year painted: | 1874 |
| Original size: | 62.3 cm x 103 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Realism and Impressionism |
| Located at: | The Courtauld Gallery, London, United Kingdom (long-term loan from a private collection) |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted in oil on canvas, 8 sizes or made to measure |
Banks of the Seine at Argenteuil – Édouard Manet
What does Banks of the Seine at Argenteuil show?
At the lower left a grassy bank slopes down to the water. A young woman stands on it in a long, pale summer dress with a dark belt, half turned away, a long black ribbon falling from her dark hat. Beside her a small child in a straw hat looks at the river with her.
To their right, sailing boats with dark hulls, pale decks and furled sails lie moored, bare masts rising; at the left edge a white sail goes up. The hulls are mirrored as broken patches.
The river fills almost the whole canvas, built from short strokes of blue, white and pale yellow that sparkle in the sun. On the far bank lie long, low floating wash-houses and a line of green trees under a bright sky. The canvas is signed and dated Manet 74 at the lower left.
Who are the woman and the child on the bank?
The woman is Camille Monet, wife of the painter Claude Monet, and the child is their son Jean. Both posed for Manet in the summer of 1874 at Argenteuil, a town on the Seine not far from Paris.
Manet spent that summer at Gennevilliers, across the river, and often visited Monet, who had lived in Argenteuil since 1873. Renoir was often there too.
He painted the scene out of doors. The same summer brought The Monet Family in Their Garden at Argenteuil, with Camille and Jean resting on the lawn and Monet at his flower bed.
Why is this painting so admired?
Édouard Manet (1832–1883) was among the first nineteenth-century painters of everyday modern life, and he stands at the turning point between Realism and Impressionism. He was close to Monet, Renoir and other younger painters, yet he never exhibited with the Impressionists, preferring to send his work to the Paris Salon.
The Courtauld counts it among Manet’s most vivid experiments in painting outdoors. The light colours and quick strokes he used for the moving water show Monet’s influence, but Manet kept his own thick oil paint and rich blacks, which you see in the hulls and in the ribbon of Camille’s hat.
For more on the painter, see the Wikipedia article on Édouard Manet, in English.
Where is the original, and who has owned it?
The original, oil on canvas measuring 62.3 x 103 cm (height x width), is in a private collection. Since 1997 it has been on long-term loan to The Courtauld Gallery in London, which lists it as LP.1997.XX.14.
Earlier owners include Ernest May, Auguste Pellerin and Paul Durand-Ruel in Paris, Theodore Behrens in Hamburg, the Galerie Barbazanges and Knoedler in London. Samuel Courtauld bought it in August 1923, and in 1947 he left it by bequest to Christabel McLaren, Lady Aberconway.
Its loans include the Musée d’Orsay in Paris in 2011 and the Städel in Frankfurt in 2015.
Banks of the Seine at Argenteuil or another Manet?
This is a canvas painting for anyone who loves water, summer light and the quiet of a riverbank. Do not mix it up with Argenteuil, Manet’s larger canvas of the same year, held by a museum in Tournai, which we also paint.
For Manet’s women at home, see Madame Manet in the Conservatory: his wife Suzanne in grey silk before a wall of leaves and flowers. A very different Manet is The Execution of Emperor Maximilian, one of his largest canvases, a firing squad before a high wall. For a stern face, there is Portrait of Henri Rochefort, the journalist and politician with folded arms.
Our whole shelf of famous Manet paintings, all painted to order, sits behind the Édouard Manet link.
How do we hand-paint Banks of the Seine at Argenteuil?
Manet’s original is an oil on canvas 103 cm wide. Ours is an oil painting reproduction: the painter works it in oil on canvas, in the size you choose, building it up layer by layer.
He first lays in the diagonal of the bank, places Camille and Jean and fixes the hulls and masts, because they hold the composition together. Then he covers the sky, the far bank and the trees, and only after that turns to the river, which takes the most time.
The water is built from short, separate strokes of blue, white and ochre, as Manet set them down, while the hulls and the black ribbon get dense, full-bodied paint, so the glitter of the river still sits against heavy dark shapes.
Which size suits which wall?
In short: 50 x 30 or 60 x 35 cm for a narrow wall or a shelf, 66 x 41 and 90 x 55 cm above a chest of drawers or a bed, 104 x 60 and 130 x 77 cm above a sofa, and 145 x 90 or 190 x 110 cm for a long wall.
We paint it in 8 landscape sizes (width x height): 50 x 30, 60 x 35, 66 x 41, 90 x 55, 104 x 60, 130 x 77, 145 x 90 and 190 x 110 cm. The original measures 103 x 62.3 cm (width x height). The first four sizes, up to 90 x 55 cm, are smaller than it, 104 x 60 cm is about as wide, and 130 x 77, 145 x 90 and 190 x 110 cm are larger than the original.
As a painting for the living room it works best at 130 x 77 or 145 x 90 cm, where the glitter of the water and the masts read from the doorway.
Can I order a different size or a frame?
Yes. If your wall needs other proportions, we keep the mother, her son and the boats whole and adjust only the band of water or sky. Send us the size you need for this river scene, and we will come back with a price and a date.
The river scene ships rolled, stretched on a stretcher bar or already framed; our workshop in Slovenia does the stretching and framing. You choose the moulding in our 3D app, which is for picking the frame only; viewing the painting on your own wall is a separate service. A slim pale wood moulding leaves the water its light.
When and how will the painting arrive?
The painter begins on the river and the boats as soon as you confirm, and the painting is ready to leave within 15 to 45 working days. Before packing we send you a photograph of the finished canvas, and if you want anything changed, we change it.
It reaches you anywhere in Slovenia or the rest of the EU without customs duties, and our returns policy applies to it as to every order.
A summer on the Seine suits anyone who loves water and sailing; if you are unsure of their wall, a wall art voucher leaves the size to them.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I see the original?
At The Courtauld Gallery in London, where a private owner placed it on long-term loan in 1997.
Who are the people in the painting?
Camille Monet, wife of Claude Monet, and their son Jean, who posed for Manet in the summer of 1874.
Is this a print?
No, it is a hand-painted copy: our painter sets every stroke of the water with a brush, in oil on canvas.
How big is the original?
It measures 62.3 x 103 cm (height x width); our sizes from 130 x 77 cm upwards are larger.
Can I order this river scene in a size not on the list?
Yes. Write to us with the width and height, and we will quote a price and a delivery time for it.
How long does it take to make?
Between 15 and 45 working days; before it ships, you see the finished river and boats in a photograph.
Is it right for a bedroom, or as a gift?
Yes. Its calm blues and whites settle a bedroom, and it pleases anyone who loves the water.
Is this a Monet?
No, Édouard Manet painted it, but beside Monet and under his influence, with Monet’s wife and son as his models.
- Subject: Camille Monet and her son Jean on the bank of the Seine, sailing boats on glittering blue water before them.
- Original: oil on canvas, 1874, 62.3 x 103 cm, private collection, on long-term loan to The Courtauld Gallery, London.
- Ours: an Édouard Manet reproduction painted by hand in oil on canvas, 8 sizes from 50 x 30 to 190 x 110 cm, or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: the canvas once belonged to Samuel Courtauld, who bought it in 1923.
