Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Ambroise Vollard, Paris
Carstairs Gallery, New York (acquired from the estate of the above)
Acquired from the above on February 4, 1952

The works is in very good condtion. The canvas has been lined. THe pigments are quite vibrant and the impasto has been well preserved. Under UV light: one small stroke of inpainting is visible at top of the flower at top left. THe extreme edges have been taped and minor frame abraision is visible to the extreme perimeter.
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Renoir's still lifes are among the most sensually appealing compositions of Impressionist art. Roses were his favorite subject, and in the present work he renders these beloved flowers with his characteristically rich palette, capturing the elegant detail of each individual petal. The artist's complex still lifes proved to be wildly popular amongst the clients of Renoir's dealer Durand-Ruel, and they revitalized this age-old subject with an Impressionist flair, resulting in some of the most vibrant compositions of the artist's oeuvre.

Created with careful attention to light and shadow, Vase de roses exhibits the artist’s ability to replicate the pure luxuriance of a floral arrangement. As was the case for many Impressionist painters, Renoir rejected the trompe l’oeil techniques that had been utilized by artists for centuries, and instead he drew upon his own creative ingenuity and his initial impressions of the scene at hand. Few artists of his generation would approach any subject with the richness and sensitivity that is demonstrated in his floral pictures. Renoir once said of his still lifes, "What seems to me most significant about our movement [Impressionism] is that we have freed painting from the importance of the subject. I am at liberty to paint flowers and call them flowers, without their needing to tell a story" (quoted in Peter Mitchell, European Flower Painters, London, 1973, pp. 211-12).