By the Seashore
A young woman seated by the sea looks out holding a fan, the figure crisp and the background hazy: a picture Renoir painted after studying Ingres. Full commentary ↓
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By the Seashore is an oil painting by Auguste Renoir (1883) in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It measures 92.1 × 72.4 cm.
In the pictureA woman seated in a wicker chair, in a blue dress and hat and holding a fan, looks out at us. Her face and hands are painted smooth and crisp, while the sea, cliffs and beach behind her are blurred with short brushstrokes. In effect, the figure is painted like a photograph and the background like Impressionism.
BackgroundIt dates from 1883. On a trip to Italy in 1881, Renoir saw Raphael and Ingres again, felt that he did not know how to draw, and changed direction toward reviving the outline. This painting comes from that transitional period: the background in the old manner, the figure in the new. The background looks like the Normandy coast, but it was most likely painted in the studio.
Puzzle tipDivide it into the figure (blue dress, flesh tones, black hat) and the background (pale blue, sand). Complete the face, hands, fan and chair back first to establish the figure, then fill in the background using the boundary between sea (above) and sand (below). The background pieces have blurry brushwork and are difficult, so leave them for last.
- Artist
- French, Limoges 1841–1919 Cagnes-sur-Mer
- Classification
- Paintings
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 92.1 x 72.4 cm
- Credit line
- H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art ↗
Stories about this work
- Seven Paris Paintings from 1874 to 1897, from Manet's Boating to Pissarro's Winter Boulevard
Twenty-three years, from Manet's Boating to Pissarro's Boulevard Montmartre. Following Impressionism's birth, its split, and the passage to the next generation through seven paintings. Plus how pointillism and blurred brushwork differ as puzzles.
