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Manet Paints Monet focuses on an auspicious moment in the history of art. In the summer of 1874, douard Manet 18321883 and Claude Monet 18401926, two outstanding painters of the nascent Impressionist movement, spent their holidays together in Argenteuil on the Seine River. Their growing friendship is expressed in their artwork, culminating in Manets marvelous portrait of Monet painting on a boat. The boat was the ideal site for Monet to execute his new plein-air paintings, enabling him to depict nature, water, and the play of light. Similarly, Argenteuil was the perfect place for Manet, the great painter of contemporary life, to observe Parisian society at leisure. His portrait brings all the elements together Manets own eye for the effect of social conventions and boredom on vacationers, and Monets eye for naturebut these qualities remain markedly distinct.