The Eve of War

As the 1860s drew to a close, the political situation in France grew increasingly tense. Napoleon III's Second Empire, which had provided the stability and prosperity that allowed the arts to flourish, was weakening. Tensions with Prussia escalated, and many sensed that war was inevitable.

In 1869, Monet and Renoir spent the summer painting together at La Grenouillère, a popular bathing spot on the Seine near Paris. Working side by side, they produced a series of paintings that are now seen as the first fully Impressionist works. These paintings of middle-class leisure—bathers, boats, the play of sunlight on water—captured modern life with a technical freedom that abandoned all academic conventions.

The two artists set up their easels next to each other, painting the same scenes but with subtly different approaches. Monet's versions emphasize the abstract patterns of light on water, breaking the surface into discrete touches of color. Renoir's maintain more interest in the human figures, though he too adopts the broken brushwork and bright palette. These parallel series demonstrate how Impressionism emerged not from a single genius but from collective experimentation.