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Lot Essay
This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue critique of Pierre-Auguste Renoir being prepared by the Wildenstein Institute established from the archives of François Daulte, Durand-Ruel, Venturi, Vollard and Wildenstein.
This work will be included in the second supplement to the Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles de Renoir being prepared by Guy-Patrice and Floriane Dauberville, published by Bernheim-Jeune.
For Renoir, still-life subjects such as the vegetables at the heart of Artichauts et tomates acted as a ground for experimentation during the 1880s, offering the artist an opportunity to hone his painterly technique, to investigate the delicate layering of tones and colour in objects, and to play with the compositional balance of his scenes. As he told Georges Rivière, using flowers as his example, painting still-lifes was ‘a form of mental relaxation. I do not need the concentration that I need when I am faced with a model. When I am painting flowers I can experiment boldly with tones and values without worrying about destroying the whole painting. I would not dare to do that with a figure because I would be afraid of spoiling everything. The experience I gain from these experiments can then be applied to my paintings’ (quoted in A Passion for Renoir: Sterling and Francine Clark Collect, 1916-1951, New York, 1996, p. 88).
Executed in delicate layers of brushwork, while subtle tones of blue, pink, lilac and cream make up the background, the present composition focuses on a moment typical of the artist’s domestic life, as a small collection of vegetables are momentarily grouped together, catching the artist’s eye with their intriguing forms and bold colours. Though Renoir does not specify where the scene is located, the casual configuration of the produce implies that the bundle of tomatoes and artichokes has only recently been carried in from the garden, or the local market, and left on the table or sideboard for a moment before they are moved elsewhere. Capturing the scene in an array of long, sweeping strokes of paint, which appear to flow and curve around the forms of the vegetables, Renoir imbues the composition with a sense of spontaneity, as he swiftly records a snapshot of the haphazard play of life that whirled around him as he worked.
This work will be included in the second supplement to the Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles de Renoir being prepared by Guy-Patrice and Floriane Dauberville, published by Bernheim-Jeune.
For Renoir, still-life subjects such as the vegetables at the heart of Artichauts et tomates acted as a ground for experimentation during the 1880s, offering the artist an opportunity to hone his painterly technique, to investigate the delicate layering of tones and colour in objects, and to play with the compositional balance of his scenes. As he told Georges Rivière, using flowers as his example, painting still-lifes was ‘a form of mental relaxation. I do not need the concentration that I need when I am faced with a model. When I am painting flowers I can experiment boldly with tones and values without worrying about destroying the whole painting. I would not dare to do that with a figure because I would be afraid of spoiling everything. The experience I gain from these experiments can then be applied to my paintings’ (quoted in A Passion for Renoir: Sterling and Francine Clark Collect, 1916-1951, New York, 1996, p. 88).
Executed in delicate layers of brushwork, while subtle tones of blue, pink, lilac and cream make up the background, the present composition focuses on a moment typical of the artist’s domestic life, as a small collection of vegetables are momentarily grouped together, catching the artist’s eye with their intriguing forms and bold colours. Though Renoir does not specify where the scene is located, the casual configuration of the produce implies that the bundle of tomatoes and artichokes has only recently been carried in from the garden, or the local market, and left on the table or sideboard for a moment before they are moved elsewhere. Capturing the scene in an array of long, sweeping strokes of paint, which appear to flow and curve around the forms of the vegetables, Renoir imbues the composition with a sense of spontaneity, as he swiftly records a snapshot of the haphazard play of life that whirled around him as he worked.