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Lot Essay
Contrary to the idealized classical construct, Renoir adopted a very sincere approach to nature, as he attempted to immerse himself within it. He did not attempt to tame it preferring instead to revel in its irregularity. 'Renoir...was continuously unfolding in his perception of Nature. He consistently inquired for, discovered, selected, established, organized and expressed new pictorial effects, connections, relationships, values and meanings, all reflecting a wide field of painting...Renoir could paint the very same spot of landscape a number of times and each version would reveal an essentially different ramification of his spirit and feelings' (A.C. Barnes & V. de Mazia in exh. cat. Renoir, A Retrospective, New York, 1987, p. 339).
The exceptional rendering of light in the present work creates a powerful sense of warmth radiating from the canvas. Renoir revels in the colour possibilities offered by the play of sun on the landscape, evident in the range of green, yellow and dark pink tones of the grass and trees to the blues of the sparkling sea and the pink and purple hues evoking the distant hills. The present painting is typical of Renoir's landscape views of Cagnes from this period. John Rewald characterized this period in Renoir's oeuvre as 'the synthesis of his lifelong experience' in which pigment was used not to render atmospheric effects but 'to build with brilliant and strong colors an image of life in almost supernatural intensity (that) was exalted in color, subtle rhythm, forceful in volumes and rich in invention, progressing from the canvas with fertile imagination and happy rendition' (J. Rewald, The History of Impressionism, New York, 1973, p. 584).
The exceptional rendering of light in the present work creates a powerful sense of warmth radiating from the canvas. Renoir revels in the colour possibilities offered by the play of sun on the landscape, evident in the range of green, yellow and dark pink tones of the grass and trees to the blues of the sparkling sea and the pink and purple hues evoking the distant hills. The present painting is typical of Renoir's landscape views of Cagnes from this period. John Rewald characterized this period in Renoir's oeuvre as 'the synthesis of his lifelong experience' in which pigment was used not to render atmospheric effects but 'to build with brilliant and strong colors an image of life in almost supernatural intensity (that) was exalted in color, subtle rhythm, forceful in volumes and rich in invention, progressing from the canvas with fertile imagination and happy rendition' (J. Rewald, The History of Impressionism, New York, 1973, p. 584).