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Pierre Auguste RENOIR (Limoges 1841-Cagnes sur Mer 1919)
Fis…
See original version (French)
61
-
Pierre Auguste RENOIR (Limoges 1841-Cagnes sur Mer 1919)
Fis…
See original version (French)
Estimate €30,000 - €40,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Pierre Auguste RENOIR (Limoges 1841-Cagnes sur Mer 1919)
Fishing boat
Watercolour and pencil
28 x 23 cm
Provenance :
Vollard Collection
Zadeck Collection, Hamburg
Jean Dieterle Collection, then by descent
Bibliography :
Ambroise Vollard, Tableaux, Pastels & Dessins, Paris, tome 2, 1918; reproduced page 130
Although Pierre Auguste Renoir remains one of the major figures of Impressionism, his graphic work is also remarkable for its finesse and modernity. Long celebrated as a painter and colourist, he was also seen as a secondary draughtsman. Yet drawing played a fundamental role in his artistic career. From his earliest training exercises to the research he carried out at the end of his life, it was for him a privileged tool for observation, invention and experimentation.
Born in Limoges in 1841, Renoir trained in the decorative arts from an early age, painting on porcelain, before joining Charles Gleyre's studio, where he met Monet. While the Impressionist adventure led him to profoundly renew his pictorial language, it never distanced him from a demanding reflection on form. Berthe Morisot emphasised the rigour of his preparatory studies, reminding us that his works were the result of patient research.
The watercolour presented here reveals with finesse this essential dimension of her art. Depicting a moored boat, it shows a remarkable economy of means. A few soft lines suffice to define the structure of the boat, while the coloured washes bring the sails and fabrics to life in warm, vivid shades. The artist doesn't try to describe every detail; he focuses on sensation, light and the rhythm of shapes with great modernity.
This freedom of execution is one of Renoir's major qualities as a watercolourist. Drawing and colour develop simultaneously, in the same breath. The contours remain open, the volumes emerge from the transparency of the pigments and the background, barely sketched in, leaves the paper an active role in the composition. This apparent simplicity is based on a deep understanding of structure and balance.
The synthetic nature of this work also reveals Renoir's modernity. The artist suggests rather than describes, inviting the eye to complete the image. This approach, which favours immediate perception and the speed of the line, explains the admiration that artists such as Bonnard and Picasso had for him.
This watercolour is a particularly eloquent testimony to an art of vivid, sensitive line, where apparent spontaneity conceals an exceptional mastery of form, light and colour. It is a reminder of the extent to which Renoir was not only a major painter of modernity, but also a draughtsman and watercolourist with a remarkable freedom of invention, which the Musée d'Orsay is also highlighting in 2026.
See original version (French)
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