I n Renoir’s later years, he and his family spent summers and winters on the French Riviera. First they stayed at Le Cannet and later Cagnes, where in 1907 Renoir purchased Les Collettes, an old farm situated among olive and orange groves. The mountainous landscape provided the artist with infinite inspiration.

Art historian John House describes the significant impact this new location would have on Renoir's work: "The estate provided him with his principal subjects for landscape; he focused sometimes on the panoramic view of it from the coast and the old town of Cagnes, sometimes on its ancient, twisting olive trees, and often on the old farmhouse on the estate" (John House, Renoir, London, 1985, p. 27).