Renoir: The beauty of elegance and nature

Author: Dester
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: "To me, a painting should be something cute, pleasant, and beautiful," Renoir once said. Over his fifty-year career and thousands of artworks, this humble painter, who believed that painting was "for decorating walls," captured the elegant demeanor of the figures in his paintings through the impressionist light. From The Mill on the Grasse Street, Luncheon on the Boat, Bathers, to countless portraits of friends, collectors, sponsors, especially women, young girls, or little girls, the author narrates how Renoir, with his vibrant brushstrokes, transformed the ordinary into the magical. "The work The Mill on the Grasse Street is a complete portrayal born from deep observation and a bright atmosphere; the dazzling scene of an open-air gathering—dancing, laughter, sunlight, dust—faces flushed with excitement, poses casual and natural—on a certain beat, the pink, light blue, deep blue, and muted skirts suddenly turn, then stop— amidst passion, there is mystery, desire, joy, and weariness—those poor heroines with delicate faces, affectionate gestures, and frivolous attitudes, lively or lazy, express hope, intoxication, indifference, and endless boredom."