LVMH gift enables France to acquire Caillebotte masterpiece for Musee d’Orsay
Gustave Caillebotte’s ‘A Boating Party,’ painted in 1877-78. The Musee d’Orsay in Paris unveiled the work on January 30, which it acquired thanks to a $47 million donation from the luxury goods company LMVH. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit ArtDaily.com. Because the work of art is in the public domain, Wikimedia Commons regards faithful photographic reproductions, such as this one, to belong to the public domain by extension.
PARIS (AP) – France has acquired a stunning Impressionist masterpiece for its national collection of art treasures, with a donation from luxury goods giant LVMH paying the 43 million euros (nearly $47 million) for A Boating Party by 19th-century French artist Gustave Caillebotte.
The oil on canvas shows an oarsman in a top hat rowing his skiff on languid waters. The work, remarkable in its realism, delicate colors and almost cinematic perspective, as though the artist was in the boat with the rower, went on display January 30 in the Musee d’Orsay. It is the latest addition to the Paris museum’s already impressive collection of Impressionist art.
The painting was sold by Caillebotte’s descendants. It had been one of the last Impressionist masterpieces still in private hands, said Jean-Paul Claverie, an adviser to LVMH boss Bernard Arnault.
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