Edouard Manet | Boating | The Metropolitan Museum of Art (metmuseum.org)
Postcard Story – Part 2 – Boating – Edouard Manet – 1894 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Friend of Oldest Grandson – 01/15/24
…and this all…was it truly more than two years since she first stepped into the boat, and this afternoon was as beautiful on the water as she remembers it was the first time, well… Friends, of sorts, had wondered why she had accepted his invitation, not an orchestrated or clever invitation with smooth and charming words, that was true, not like what other men were more easily capable of, but…it was so like him, a… And at that time, she did not know him, other than by his manner she had observed from a distance…but intrigued, in pure Parisian fashion. At the boat, he had welcomed her, he offered his hand, surprisingly gentle for such a big hand, and she settled herself comfortably, bringing the cushions nearer to him so she could sit near the rear of the boat, to see as he saw when the sail was set, and they began to move into the middle of the river. With glances, she was surprised by the tears and slits in his sailing pants, working clothes, no, but boating clothes used and clean, not the fashionable clothes he wore at gatherings…in which, yes, he never truly looked comfortable or natural…now that she thought of it…but here, to describe him as rude and uncouth was wrong, for those he was not, for rude and uncouth that she did know, dressed in the latest most expensive fashionable clothes. No, the word…the word was… And she looked out over the water, the moving sparkling water of light blue and darker, with touches of gold, and it was beautiful and so peaceful, not intruded upon by loud and almost drunken repartee and gaiety. She remembers telling him how beautiful and peaceful it was and asked if boating was something he often did, and he had said yes, it was something he loved. And she had looked up at him and thought how…lovely, yes, to be invited to join a man in something he loved. Then with words that just seemed to come naturally to her lips, she thanked him for asking her to come, an easy thank you without any pretense, and…and… She…realized the word she had wanted, and it was unpretentious, yes, Edouard, was a man without pretensions, a man with large gentle hands, who had invited her to join him in something he loved. And he had asked, always with a gentle hesitation, a number of times after their first boating if she would again join him on the river, and she asked him more times after that, if the weather was good for sailing, and every time on the river was always a time of beauty and peace, even with a few unexpected storms… And here she was, more than two years later, again boating, with a ring now on her finger, seeing new beauty every time upon the river, with every new breath of air filling the sail…with an unpretentious man she had grown to love.
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