PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR | Le jardin des Collettes

Maurice Gagnant, Paris (acquired from the artist. Sold: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 24-25th June 1925, lot 128)
M. Svadari, France (sold: Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 14th June 1957, lot 87)
Philippe Gagnant, Paris (sold: Palais Galliéra, Paris, 16th June 1966, lot 111)
Private Collection, France (sold: Sotheby's, London, 30th June 1987, lot 28)
Private Collection, Switzerland (sold: Sotheby's, New York, 3rd May 2012, lot 212)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Renoir, 1938, n.n.
Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Renoir, 1955, no. 28 
Dusseldorf, Düsseldorf Kunsthalle, Renoir, Collection Maurice Gagnant, 1955-56, no. 38
London, Marlborough Fine Art, Ltd., Renoir, An Exhibition of Paintings from European Collections in Aid of the Renoir Foundation, 1956, no. 37
Vevey, Musée Jenisch, Auguste Renoir, 1956, no. 62
Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Voici des fruits, des fleurs, des feuilles et des branches, 1957, no. 53

Denis Rouart, Renoir, Geneva, 1954, illustrated in colour p. 95
Guy-Patrice & Michel Dauberville (eds.), Renoir, Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles 1903-1910, Paris, 2012, vol. IV, no. 3094, illustrated p. 237

Please contact the Impressionist and Modern Art Department (Phoebe.Liu@sothebys.com) for the condition report for this lot.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Softly rendered in vibrant pink and ochre tones, the present work captures the warmth and healing sunlight of Renoir’s home and garden in the south of France. Pierre-Auguste Renoir travelled repeatedly to the region, moving there permanently after his diagnosis with rheumatoid arthritis in 1897. In 1907 he purchased Les Collettes in Cagnes-sur-Mer, where he was to spend the rest of his life. During these years the Cagnes landscape played a pivotal role in Renoir’s work. John House notes that, '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 (exhibition catalogue), Hayward Gallery, London, 1985, p. 276).  This painting depicts the farmhouse screened by its grove of olive trees. The composition recalls Cézanne’s method of utilising the trunks of trees to unify the depth of field. The background of white-washed walls and blue shutters, almost completely obscured beneath the dense canopy, creates a sense of both security and intimacy. In relaxed and loose brushstrokes, Renoir evocatively depicts the filtering of light through the foliage, using dark green hues to capture the shadows and the volume of leafy trees, whilst the oranges and pinks of the palette simultaneously evoke the hazy stillness of a hot summer’s day.           

Painting en plein air, Renoir was always captivated by the fleeting effects of nature. In a 1918 interview with the art critic René Gimpel the artist commented: 'The olive tree, what a brute! If you realise how much trouble it has caused me. A tree full of colours. Not great at all. Its little leaves, how they’ve made me sweat! A gust of wind, and my tree’s tonality changes. The colour isn’t on the leaves, but in the spaces between them. I know that I can’t paint nature, but I enjoy struggling with it. A painter can’t be great if he doesn’t understand landscape' (quoted in ibid., p. 277).



This work is accompanied by an Attestation of Inclusion from the Wildenstein Institute, and it will be included in the forthcoming Renoir Digital Catalogue Raisonné, currently being prepared under the sponsorship of the Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Inc.