“La promenade” by Pierre Auguste Renoir on display at Villa dei Capolavori in Parma
The Walk by Renoir joins the paintings of Monet, the Cézannes and the two Renoirs from the permanent collection, the richest and most important nucleus of French painting from the Impressionist period in Italy.
Executed in 1870, The Walk it is considered one of the highest results of the French painter’s production and anticipates the arrival of Impressionism, a movement that was officially born on 15 April 1874 with the first exhibition of a group of young artists: Monet, Degas, Pissarro, Morisot and himself Renoir, ready to transgress the rules of academic art by experimenting with new painting made of light and nature en plein air.
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1 / 5 Pierre Auguste Renoir Landscape of Cagnes, 1905-1908, olio su tela
2 / 5 Claude Monet, Cliffs Pourville rising sun, 1897, oil on canvas, cm 66 x 101
3 / 5 Paul Cezanne, Paysage Proven, 1900-1904, pencil and watercolor on paper
4 / 5 Pierre Auguste Renoir, The Fishes, 1917, olio su tela
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La Promenade; Pierre Auguste Renoir (French, 1841 – 1919); 1870; Oil on canvas; 81.3 × 64.8 cm (32 × 25 1/2 in.); 89.PA.41; No Copyright – United States La Promenade; Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841 – 1919); 1870; Oil on canvas; 81.3 × 64.8 cm (32 × 25 1/2 in.); 89.PA.41; No Copyright – United States
The symbolism of light and Renoir’s painting technique
Yes The Walk both figures are crucial to the scene, but are treated very differently. While the greens just hit by the light in the corner illuminate the dark figure of the man, well lit and dressed in white is the woman, the fulcrum of the entire picture. Most likely the woman portrayed is Lise Tréhot, who was Renoir’s favorite model and companion during the second half of the nineteenth century, as can be seen from the numerous works in which she appears.
Monet’s influence on Renoir
Renoir had spent the previous summer painting outdoors with Monet, who encouraged him to move towards a lighter, brighter palette. An advice that the painter made his own, so much so that the light filtering through the foliage would become a distinctive mark of Renoir’s best impressionist works of the 1870s and 1880s. Not only that, it The Walk the artist still retains the dark tones of green and brown, to which a mixture of color and enamel dyes is added. A painting that allows him to express his perception of the world, and that delivers The Walk one of the first true impressionist paintings.
Valentina Muzi
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