Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) was a French painter, and a key figure in the development of Impressionism. He is known for his portrait paintings – particularly females, however he also painted landscapes, and still lifes. One of his most famous paintings is “Two Sisters” (also referred to as “On the Terrace”) which currently resides in the Art Institute of Chicago. The following is my study of this captivating painting.
A mini biography so we can get to know Renoir
I attended another brilliant art webinar recently. No surprises, this latest webinar focussed on the works of Renoir. And, as with the Van Gogh webinar* I now feel much closer to understanding Renoir’s passions and personality. It seems that a good webinar can make history come to life!
*You can read my two previous blogs on Van Gogh’s Sunflowers here and Vase with Gladioli and Chinese Asters here.
Renoir was born in Limoges, France – but at a young age relocated to Paris with his family who were in search of a better life. As a youth, he began an apprenticeship at a porcelain factory – where his talents as an artist were acknowledged.
He funded his desire to become an art student in order to progress a career as an artist. He met some of his other contemporaries at art school, no doubt drawing inspiration from them and vice versa. We’re talking the big players here like Monet, Sisley and Bazille.
After several unsuccessful exhibitions and auctions, Renoir eventually achieved financial success – mainly from portrait commissions. The lesson then is to never give up.
He even moved away from the “core” Impressionist style; however, I believe its influence still permeates his later works. Never really leaving Impressionism fully behind, in my opinion.
He turned his hand to several disciplines throughout his career as an artist, even bronze sculpture work in later life.
Sadly, in his old age, his health deteriorated meaning that he required an assistant to help him paint. However, he retained his good nature, revelling that his only daily responsibility was to paint.
Renoir’s personality
Post-webinar, I turned to my book “Impressionist Painters” by Guy Jennings and poured over the Renoir pages to soak up more. There is a lot to like.
By all accounts, Renoir was personable. He made friends easily and this helped him acquire patrons throughout his career.
Despite struggling with poverty in earlier life, it is clear that it is his sheer joy of painting which kept him in high spirits. The book states one of Renoir’s favourite sayings as: “There are no poor people” – basically, there is no excuse for poverty of spirit. This positivity can be seen in his vibrant, yet soft, yet almost peaceful use of colour.
Learning about Renoir’s personality changed how I view his work actually; it brings more joy to the experience.
Renoir’s work – style and composition
Common themes of his paintings include Paris life, music, leisure and fashion – reflecting the times of the growing middle class. And you have to think, this is a time when cafés were fairly novel!
The webinar drew my attention to the fact that Renoir often combined two different styles within a painting. That is, you get a portrait and a landscape in one – bargain.
Happily, this is the case with “Two Sisters”. There is, of course, the two sisters in the foreground. From a compositional point of view, they dominate the lower two-thirds of the painting. Then the top third, in the distance, is the landscape.
To get the ball rolling on this study, I did my usual, incongruous, urban-style watercolour sketch. This helped me to familiarise myself with the geography of the painting. It is far from perfect, but there’s ‘looking’ and then there’s ‘seeing’, and for me that sometimes means getting practical:
If you remove yourself from the need to be perfect (tricky, I get it), then doing this kind of exercise is quite liberating and fun. Try it – pick a famous painting and scribble around with some pen and ink and see what happens.
Just before we move on
Another example of a famous Renoir painting which adopts this ‘two style’ approach is “The Rowers Lunch”. For me, that painting embodies “Impressionism”**.
**If you hadn’t guessed, Impressionism is my favourite art movement and I am loving learning more about the frontrunning artists through these studies.
Colour
What I find refreshing about Renoir’s work is the beautiful, warm colours and the expressive use of light. There are no dark themes, nothing cynical – his work is ‘pleasant’ and ‘pretty’. He is once known to have said: “Why shouldn’t art be pretty? There are enough unpleasant things in the world”. A seemingly timeless quote.
I did another of my favourite art exercises – that is ‘finding the colours’. Sounds like a party game… “Find the Colours”. How to play: stare at a painting until the ten main colours jump out.
And that is your prize:
This didn’t surprise me actually. In “Two Sisters” you’ve got blue, white and red dominating (subliminal French flag, Renoir?). And then you’ve pretty much got all of the other colours, bold and soft, somehow harmonising in a beautifully balanced way. Yes! Very good work Renoir.
If you look at how he applies the paint, true to Impressionist form, it is so thick in places that you can see the brushstrokes. The Art Institute of Chicago website’s image of “Two Sisters” by Renoir is very good for doing this. If you click on the image then you can zoom in quite a lot. I would recommend looking especially closely at the younger girl’s hat, you can really see the thickly applied paint. The colours here are hypnotic.
Even though these paintings were meant to be viewed from further away, there’s additional appreciation and joy to be had from looking closely at those lovely, colourful textures.
Two Sisters
Now, it should be pointed out that the two girls in the painting are not actually sisters. However, the name was given to the painting as a selling point. I learned from the webinar that the older girl is Jeanne Darlot, who went on to be an actress. The younger girl is unknown.
The painting has an addictive quality. I would have almost dismissed it under any other circumstance; however, it was given priority status in the webinar. And then after a while I found myself unable to stop looking at it for ages afterwards.
I have noticed that when looking at many of Renoir’s paintings – “Two Sisters” is no exception – that he manages to produce these ‘soft’, ‘subtle’ looking paintings that when you look closer are actually made up of very vibrant, vivid colours. How, Renoir?
Colour therefore becomes the main feature of my studies.
The younger girl
I wanted to do a portrait, and decided the younger girl was a good place to start. This wasn’t a quick study either – it took over an hour but I was pleased with the result.
I used acrylics, and because it is small I wasn’t able to use thick brush strokes. But as mentioned above, I’m interested in studying the colours of this painting rather than practising Renoir’s brush technique. Trying to find and blend those “hidden” colours in a portrait. The hat was particularly interesting to paint. I like big hats.
Something that I wasn’t expecting to happen while I was painting: it evoked recollections of the style I painted in as a teenager. Smaller paintings, smaller brushstrokes. As a result, I experienced nostalgia in a completely new way. In my mind I was transported back to how I felt when I painted as a 17-year-old.
I was going to carry on and paint in the background but decided against it. It looked quite sweet against the plain white and the addition of a background might take away from what I’d been practicing in this study – as much as I was enjoying this newfound nostalgia.
The older girl
The following night I decided to continue the practice with a study of the older girl.
Acrylics on a small scale again and without the background.
These two small portraits have given me some inspiration for my current work, particularly on my choice of colour palette. It was also refreshing to try portrait painting again – not something I do often, as I’m much more comfortable with pencil drawing when it comes to portraits.
If nothing else, it has highlighted the importance of stepping outside of one’s comfort zone in order to develop as an artist. It is interesting that Renoir acknowledged his own perceived weaknesses (at one point realising that he apparently “did not know how to paint or draw”). He was not afraid to try new things in order to hone his craft.
The landscape section
On that note: pastel pencils. Not entirely new to me, but so infrequently used that they might as well be.
I wanted to honour the ‘landscape’ part of “Two Sisters” and decided to go in a completely different direction. I still wanted to practice with colours, as that is what I find so captivating about this painting, and pastel pencils were my instrument of choice.
After about 10 seconds, I remembered why I don’t use pastel pencils. They make me go all ‘shivery’ – think fingernails and chalkboards. I’m even shivering just typing this from the memory. (Apologies if you go shivery reading this). As a side point, I need to figure out a way to not shiver, because I really like the ethereal result and would like to keep experimenting with pastel pencils. Maybe if I wear lots of jumpers and sit near a fan heater or something.
This is what I managed to do (in about 10 minutes… I had to work fast!):
The main point here was to attempt to capture the free-flowing essence of Impressionism, while trying to pick out the colours I was seeing in the painting. I particularly like the complimentary oranges and blues that Renoir uses to highlight a focal point in the distance and wanted to show this in my study.
The joy of painting
“Why else do you think I am here if not because I enjoy it?”
According to Jennings’ book (“Impressionist Painters”, mentioned earlier), this was the response Renoir gave to one of his art teachers, Charles Gleyre. An otherwise tolerant master, who in a moment of exasperation said to his student “I suppose you paint because it amuses you?”.
Which says it all really. Painting was everything to Renoir. I love that anecdote.
And I think that’s a good place to wrap things up. Ultimately, it all comes down to finding that authentic space that resonates with your soul. This Renoir study has been a real journey of discovery on many levels!
Remember, make time for whatever amuses you.