Pierre-Auguste Renoir

The present work depicts the village of Bonnecourt, situated in the region of the Champagne-Ardenne. Always fascinated by the natural world, it was in Bonnecourt that Renoir saw nature as a timeless paradise, reflected here in the rich treatment of the poppy fields that lead the viewer’s eye towards the houses in the middle ground and the sky above them. Unlike his companion Monet, Renoir was not interested in topography, and instead focused on the relationship between the place and its atmosphere, depicting nature in a dreamlike setting. Le Village de Bonnecourt depicts what Barbara Ehrlich White described as ‘tangible forms [that] are surrounded by a warm atmosphere created by expressive brushstrokes of vibrant colour and sparkling light. Classical feelings of weightiness and universality are blended with Impressionist feelings of movement and joyfulness’ (B. Ehrlich White, Renoir, His Life, Art and Letters, New York, 1984, p. 219).