Picture Study: Pierre-Auguste Renoir
“For me a picture... should be something likable, joyous and pretty—yes, pretty. There are enough ugly things in life for us not to add to them.” Our next artist for picture study is the French Impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, a man who fought rejection, depression, and crippling arthritis to create joyful paintings—”The pain passes, but the beauty remains.”
“I know how to do only one thing and that is to paint. I have never let a day go by without painting—or drawing, at any rate. You’ve got to keep your hand in.” Only hours before he died at the age of 78, Renoir handed his brush and palette to his nurse and said, “I think I’m beginning to understand something about this.”
Above: Self-portrait, 1899. Below: The Umbrellas.
The following schedule is a basic outline of what paintings I want to study each week. If you are unfamiliar with the purpose and method of picture study, scroll down to see a sample from my lesson plans. We will supplement our study with selections from two books: A Weekend with Renoir by Rosabianca Skira-Venturi, and Pierre-August Renoir by Susan Rayfield.
Week One:
Tuesday—Picture Study: Dance at the Moulin de la Galette.
Week Two:
Tuesday— Picture Study: Dance in the Country. Dance in the City.
Week Three:
Tuesday: Picture Study: Still Life Flowers and Fruit.
Week Four:
Tuesday—Picture Study: The Umbrellas.
Week Five:
Tuesday—Picture Study: Luncheon of the Boating Party.
Week Six:
Tuesday—Picture Study: The Swing.
Below: Dance at the Moulin de la Galette. The canvas is two and a half feet high and almost four feet long. Friends had to help Renoir carry it through the streets, back and forth every day, while he worked on it. “This was not without difficulties, when the wind blew and the canvas threatened to fly away like a kite,” one friend remembered.
Sample Lesson Plan (Grades 2 and 4)
OBJECTS
•To continue the series of Renoir’s pictures.
•To increase their interest in Renoir’s works.
•To help them read a picture truly.
•To increase their powers of attention and observation.
MATERIALS
•Large, high-quality prints of Dance in the Country and Dance in the City.
LESSON
Step I.—Remind the children that Renoir loved dancing and painting people enjoying it. In 1883, one of Renoir’s most faithful supporters, Paul Durand-Ruel, commissioned three paintings of couples on the dance floor. Two which we will study today are contrasts. (See that the children understand contrast.)
Step II.—Give the children the pictures Dance in the Country and Dance in the City to look at, and ask them to find out all they can about them.
Step IV.—After three or four minutes, take the pictures away and see what the children noticed. Ask which is Dance in the Country and which Dance in the City. Ask the children to tell about the pictures and especially how they differ. (Who is enjoying the dancing best, and what shows this?)
Dance in the Country—There is a spontaneous and affectionate air to this brightly colored painting. The couple seems to have risen from a plein air lunch for a dance. The rosy-cheeked woman smiles frankly, her skirt hem swishes, and she flourishes a fan. The man dances bare-headed; his straw hat is toppled on the foreground. (The woman is Aline Charigot, Renoir’s future wife.)
Dance in the City—This couple is cooly elegant. The woman’s expression is restrained, and the man’s face is not visible; their faces are turned away from each other. The dance is indoors, and the couple is in formal black and white evening dress.
Step V.—Show them a print of Dance at Bougival, often displayed with these two paintings as a series. Like Dance in the Country, this portrays a middle-class couple dancing outdoors. They too seem to be enjoying themselves, though the young woman looks a bit shy.
Below: Still Life with Fruit and Flowers.
Be a good craftsman;
it won’t stop you from being a genius.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
COMMENT ON THIS POST BY SENDING AN EMAIL TO THE HANDMAIDEN.
SUE STIRLING said...
Hello again. I love your blog. I feel as if I step into a world gone by but, through your writing, very much alive! I panicked when I could not remember the exact name of your website. Then I remembered! I love the picture study of Renoir. I am so blessed to have found you! Thank you for sharing your ideas, pondering, and creativity. —Sue
Sunday, March 4, 2012 02:50 AM
HANDMAIDEN said...
I am glad you found me again, and that you enjoyed this post. Renoir has so many lovely paintings, and preparing the lesson plans was a delight. Thank you for your sweet comment!
Monday, March 5, 2012 12:19 PM
Tuesday, February 7, 2012