Lot Essay
This work will be included in the forthcoming Pierre-Auguste Renoir Digital Catalogue Raisonné, currently being prepared under the sponsorship of the Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Inc.
Paysage arboré bears witness to one of the central tenets of Impressionism: the plein-air master standing outdoors, before nature, rapidly transcribing his immediate sensations. Renoir has employed several different types of brushwork to capture the myriad details of the natural world, differentiating the various zones of the landscape through his nimble touch. Thickly applied yellow and green daubs capture the young leaves of the trees, while lighter, more feathery strokes depict the nearby wall of the chateau and with a few licks of white and cobalt a female figure appears in the mid-ground. The sun-dappled path is an interweaving pattern of white, yellow and blue touches and opens out to a clearing marking the spot where Renoir must have set up his easel to depict this lively view, implicitly registering his presence in the landscape.
Paysage arboré was executed on the estate of Les Collettes at Cagnes whose olive tree filled garden would become his studio. Just like Claude Monet at Giverny, Renoir would transform the wild surroundings of his home into an outdoor studio, where he could persistently and closely study nature, capturing its kaleidoscopic colours and light effects in his work, even despite his deteriorating health. Amid the silvery gleam of huge, ancient olive trees, Renoir worked in a specially designed shed with large windows that could be opened wide to catch passing breezes. “The landscape was a microcosm of all the riches of the world,” as Jean described this setting. “’It’s intoxicating,’ [Renoir] kept repeating” (Renoir, My Father, New York, 1958, pp. 428-429).
Paysage arboré bears witness to one of the central tenets of Impressionism: the plein-air master standing outdoors, before nature, rapidly transcribing his immediate sensations. Renoir has employed several different types of brushwork to capture the myriad details of the natural world, differentiating the various zones of the landscape through his nimble touch. Thickly applied yellow and green daubs capture the young leaves of the trees, while lighter, more feathery strokes depict the nearby wall of the chateau and with a few licks of white and cobalt a female figure appears in the mid-ground. The sun-dappled path is an interweaving pattern of white, yellow and blue touches and opens out to a clearing marking the spot where Renoir must have set up his easel to depict this lively view, implicitly registering his presence in the landscape.
Paysage arboré was executed on the estate of Les Collettes at Cagnes whose olive tree filled garden would become his studio. Just like Claude Monet at Giverny, Renoir would transform the wild surroundings of his home into an outdoor studio, where he could persistently and closely study nature, capturing its kaleidoscopic colours and light effects in his work, even despite his deteriorating health. Amid the silvery gleam of huge, ancient olive trees, Renoir worked in a specially designed shed with large windows that could be opened wide to catch passing breezes. “The landscape was a microcosm of all the riches of the world,” as Jean described this setting. “’It’s intoxicating,’ [Renoir] kept repeating” (Renoir, My Father, New York, 1958, pp. 428-429).