Renoir - Les paysages

By Berengere Gele
14/03/2007

Renoir Landscapes 1865-1883

Until May 20th

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) painted landscapes throughout his life.

However, during the first two decades of his long career they constituted an especially important area of experimentation for the artist where he explored composition, paint handling and pictorial structure in innovative new ways.

This is the first exhibition to examine this vital aspect of Renoir's achievement, and brings together some 70 landscapes.

It begins with works of the 1860s, when the young artist was meeting and working beside the painters who would become his fellow Impressionists. These works show his remarkable ability to emulate technical and stylistic innovations and then turn them to his own uses.

In the 1870s Renoir defined his distinctive quick, silvery brushstrokes and began to explore colour and structure in order to gain an audacious painterly freedom.

In the early 1880s he travelled to the South of France, Italy and North Africa, where new intensities of sunlight and colour had a profound impact on his landscape art.

The exhibition ends in 1883 with the vibrant oils he executed on a visit to Guernsey.

Who was Renoir ?

Renoir was one of the Impressionists. He used broken brushstrokes and bold combinations of pure complementary colours to capture light and movement.

After a visit to Italy in 1881 his style changed, becoming more linear and classical, as in the revisions to part of 'The Umbrellas'.

Renoir was born in Limoges, south-west France, where he began work as a painter on porcelain. He moved to Paris, joining the studio of the fashionable painter Charles Gleyre around 1861-2. Courbet influenced him. In Paris he met other painters, like Monet and Sisley, who were later to become Impressionists. In 1869 he and Monet began sketching together, and Renoir began to use lighter colours.

Around the 1880s Renoir began travelling, visiting Italy, Holland, Spain, England, Germany and North Africa. He deeply admired Raphael, Velázquez, and Rubens; the latter's influence may be seen in his works.

Renoir painted landscapes, portraits, still lifes, and modern life. His late work was mostly nude figures. Renoir's work is about pleasure, and reveals no great seriousness. He shocked Gleyre by saying, 'if painting were not a pleasure to me I should certainly not do it'.

Advance booking is highly recommended to guarantee the day and time of your choice.

 Full price £12

Senior/Concessions £11

Senior/Concessions Tuesday Afternoon Offer (Every Tuesday 2.30-6pm) £6

Art Fund members £6

Students/Unemployed/12 - 18s £6

Under 12s FREE

Book your ticket now