There is a painting that hangs in the downstairs family room at my Dad’s house in Highlands, N.C., that I’ve always loved – a recreation of Renoir’s “The Luncheon of the Boating Party.” They used to joke that it was part of our inheritance (that and a “Clod Monnet” reproduction). I didn’t know enough to realize that it wasn’t the real thing because the artist did such a good job with it.

But since I first saw that rendering, the original “Boating Party” painting has constantly fascinated me. Renoir apparently had a wonderful group of friends and thus immortalized then in this beautiful scene that encapsulates a gathering at the Maison Fournaise, a little restaurant on an island in the Seine. Everyone in the painting meant something to Renoir – even the little dog playing with Aline Cherigot, who later became the painter’s wife. Even though it’s painted in his impressionistic style, the details are still rich and vivid enough that I feel like I could have been there that day.

Another reason that I love that painting is because it’s reminded me of my Dad and stepmom and their group of friends. My Dad always had a cool boat, and he’d often take some friends on it to meet up with other friends at a little waterfront cafe in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. Their group of friends reminds me so much of Renoir’s gathering that each time I was included on one of those luncheons, it felt like I was part of a recreation of the beautiful painting.

Renoir was a master of his craft, and he created so many other noteworthy and meaningful works of art. But for me, the one that will always stand out is the one that made me want to climb inside the painting and spend a day or a lifetime getting to know the painter and his friends.