In 1892, Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted a portrait unlike any that had come before it. There is no mythology to guide us, no symbols to decode, no narrative to anchor the figure in time. She is neither Diana nor Athena—she simply exists. And in that absence, Renoir achieves something radical: an Impressionist portrait defined not by story, but by sensation.
Emerging through soft, luminous brushwork, the figure seems to dissolve into the surrounding landscape—her body built through color, not contour. Drawing on the legacy of Raphael and the frescoes of Pompeii while remaining deeply rooted in Impressionism, Renoir creates a work that is both timeless and entirely modern. Held by the family of his legendary dealer Paul Durand-Ruel since 1892, this painting stands as one of the most significant and widely exhibited female portraits in his oeuvre—a rare masterpiece that has never changed hands.
This extraordinary work will be offered as part of Sotheby’s Modern Evening Auction, presented by CELINE, taking place live in New York on 19 May 2026.
