Renoir | Bay of Naples, Evening, 1881

Bay of Naples, Evening
Artist: Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French painter🎨, 1841-1919)
Date: 1881
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 22 13/16 x 31 13/16 in. (57.9 x 80.8 cm)
Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark, 1933

Renoir's painting of Naples focuses on the bustle of daily life near the harbor.

The scene is full of local flavor - characteristic Neapolitan boats, donkeys loaded with supplies, a woman carrying a burden on her head.

In the distance, smoke issues from the mouth of the Mount Vesuvius, a volcano. Parallel strokes of paint structure the composition, with reds and oranges contrasting the purple and blue shadows and yellow and white buildings across the bay. | © The Clark Art Institute

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Onions, 1881

Artist: Auguste Renoir (French, Limoges 1841–1919 Cagnes-sur-Mer);

Date: 1881;

Medium: Oil on canvas;

Dimensions: 15 3/8 x 23 7/8 in. (39.1 x 60.6 cm);

Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark, 1922.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Bouquet of Chrysanthemums, 1881

Renoir felt that he had greater freedom to experiment in still lifes than in figure paintings.

"When I paint flowers, I feel free to try out tones and values and worry less about destroying the canvas", he told the writer Georges Rivière.

"I would not do this with a figure painting since there I would care about destroying the work". | © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Renoir | Les Grands Boulevards, 1875

Philadelphia Museum of Art | Perhaps Renoir's most famous view of Paris is this archetypal image of its newest and most fashionable district in the 1870s.

The Grands Boulevards is full of the pigment daubs and bright colors that are characteristic of Impressionism.

The modern life in the city is transmitted through visible strokes of paint, which operate as immediate sensory cues that allow the viewer to perceive this world as though it is passing by. This is the magic of Renoir's Paris.

The world of the painting is truly historical--the modern city emerging--even though his translation of this place is a subjective and fleeting impression.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Two Vases of Chrysanthemums, 1884

• "If you paint the leaf on a tree without using a model, your imagination will only supply you with a few leaves; but Nature offers you millions, all on the same tree. No two leaves are exactly the same. The artist who paints only what is in his mind must very soon repeat himself".


• "Se dipingi una foglia su un albero senza usare un modello, la tua immaginazione potrà' fornirti solo alcuni tipi di foglie; ma la natura ti offre milioni di foglie, tutte sullo stesso albero. Non ci sono due foglie esattamente uguali. L'artista che dipinge solo ciò che nella sua mente molto presto ripeterà se stesso".

Pierre-Auguste Renoir🎨

Sir George Clausen RA | A gleaner, 1901

Sir George Clausen RA (b London, 18 Apr. 1852; d Cold Ash, nr. Newbury, Berkshire, 22 Nov. 1944). British painter (mainly of landscapes and scenes of rural life), the son of a decorative painter of Danish descent.

His training included a few months at the Académie Julian, Paris, in 1883 and his work was influenced by French plein-air painting. He was particularly interested in effects of light, often showing figures set against the sun, but he always retained a sense of solidity of form.

Gustave Caillebotte | Laundry drying, 1892

Gustave Caillebotte🎨 (August 19, 1848, Paris, France - February 21, 1894, Gennevilliers), French painter🎨, who was a member and patron of the Impressionists, although he painted in a more realistic manner than many others in the group. Caillebotte was noted for his early interest in photography as an art form.

Caillebotte created more than 500 works during his lifetime.