By the Seashore by Renoir in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, November 2008

Title: By the Seashore

Artist: Auguste Renoir (French, Limoges 1841–1919 Cagnes-sur-Mer)

Date: 1883

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 36 1/4 x 28 1/2 in. (92.1 x 72.4 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929

Accession Number: 29.100.125

Renoir likely painted this work in his studio, posing his model in a wicker chair and relying on studies he had made on the Normandy coast to furnish the beach scene behind her. Stylistically, it reflects the impact of Renoir’s trip to Italy in 1881–82, which inspired him to unite the “grandeur and simplicity” he admired in Renaissance art with the luminosity of Impressionism. His new approach, which he called his “dry” manner, is evident in the sitter’s face, with its carefully drawn features and smooth handling of paint. The medley of quick strokes in the background, however, displays the freer technique of Renoir’s earlier years.


Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437430