Lot 331
  • 331

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Estimate
700,000 - 1,000,000 USD
Log in to view results
bidding is closed

Description

  • Pierre-Auguste Renoir
  • La Cagnes—Paysage avec rivière
  • Stamped Renoir (lower right)
  • Oil on canvas
  • 18 1/8 by 21 7/8 in.
  • 46 by 55.5 cm

Provenance

Violette de Mazia, Pennsylvania (and sold for the benefit of The Barnes Foundation: Christie's, New York, May 10, 1989, lot 53)
Acquired at the above sale

Literature

Bernheim-Jeune, ed., L'Atelier de Renoir, vol. II, Paris, 1931, no. 640, illustrated pl. 200
Bernheim-Jeune, ed., L'Atelier de Renoir, Renoir's Atelier, San Francisco, 1989, no. 640, illustrated pl. 200
Guy-Patrice & Michel Dauberville, Renoir, Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles, vol. V, Paris, 2014, no. 3894, illustrated p. 157

Condition

The canvas is not lined and there do not appear to be any retouching under UV light. Very minor shrinkage to the dark green pigments to the centre of the composition. Some fly spots in places. This work is in overall very good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

This magnificent landscape is a quintessential example of Renoir’s late landscape scenes, which are characterized by vibrant colors and swift brushstrokes, capturing a lush, serene environment. Known for portraiture, Renoir often included figures in his landscapes. Paysage avec rivière, however, is unique in its portrayal of a purely estuary vista, devoid of any illustrated human life. Yet Renoir asserts his presence via his long, rapid diagonal brushwork, thereby evoking the speed of the rushing river, and with his contrastingly careful staccato for the verdant shades of green, yellow and pink to suggest the flourishing blooms of spring.

Paysage
 avec rivière highlights the vanguard approach that made Renoir such an inspiration to his contemporaries. It was his vitality that caught the attention of artists like Vincent van Gogh, who wrote to his brother Théo in 1885 that Renoir reminded him that “there is life in every pencil stroke” (quoted in Keith Wheldon, Renoir and his Art, New York, 1975, p. 120). By the time Paysage avec rivière was painted in 1917, Renoir’s vivacity was much matured; his painting is bursting with even more rhythm and vibrating color than his earlier landscapes. His desire for “people to feel that neither my figures nor my trees are flat” is certainly fulfilled in this landscape (quoted in Renoir (exhibition catalogue), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Hayward Gallery, London & Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 1985, p. 278). Here, Renoir’s jubilant blues and lush greens serve to temper reality with representation, embodying the artist’s ability to create dynamism with a static medium.