Painted in Renoir’s signature fluttering brushwork, this picture offers a quintessential expression of his high Impressionist style. This springtime view of Chatou, a boating spot in the Paris suburbs, quivers in a profusion of colour and light. Delicate wisps of green and yellow suggest a breeze in the grass; a crowd of white and pink flecks, a flowering tree. Renoir portrays a young girl gathering flowers in the same carefree manner as he does her lush surroundings. The predominance of complementary yellow/greens and lilacs here may reflect the colour theories of Michel Eugène Chevreul from the 1850s – namely that neighbouring colours influence one another’s appearance.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
French 1841–1919
The Seine at Chatou 1881 (detail)
oil on canvas
73.3 x 92.4 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
