Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party (1880-81) is the jewel of The Phillips Collection. This volume reveals the fascinating characters in the painting and explores Renoir's technique. Eliza Rathbone is chief curator emerita at The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. Mary Morton is curator and head of the Department of French Paintings at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Sylvie Patry is deputy director of Collections & Exhibitions and Gund Family Chief Curator at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, PA. Aileen Ribeiro is Professor Emeritus of the University of London. Elizabeth Steele is head of conservation at The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. Sara Tas is a curator at the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam.

The portrait offers the possibility of observation and introspection, and is at the same time one of the most private and representative artistic genres. But what distinguishes the specifically female gaze? On the occasion of the major fall exhibition 2021 at Fondation Beyeler, this catalog brings together nine women artists from Europe and America from the beginning of modernism to the present day, whose works represent an outstanding contribution to the history of the portrait. The individual view of the artists on themselves and on their surroundings in the course of time is expressed. In the catalog, renowned authors explore the individual artists and their fascinating ways of reflecting on themselves and on others. The featured artists are Mary Cassatt, Marlene Dumas, Frida Kahlo, Lotte Laserstein, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Berthe Morisot, Alice Neel, Elizabeth Peyton, and Cindy Sherman.