Pierre-Auguste Renoir "Les oliviers de l'Estaque"

 Renoir was born in central France, in the town of Limoges. At the age of 13 he started work, painting decorative motifs on china plates and pots. In 1863, he became a pupil of Gleyre, and met Monet, Bazille, Sisley, and other artists. His early works show a debt to Delacroix and Courbet.

 The first of his paintings to be accepted at the Salon was Esmeralda, exhibited in 1864, but he was soon helping to found the new movement known as Impressionism, and he showed masterpieces at the first, second, and third Impressionist exhibitions. Among the great works of the early years were La loge (1874) and Le Moulin de la Galette (1876). His Portrait de Mme Charpentier enjoyed great success at the Salon.

 In 1881-82, Renoir traveled to Algiers and to Italy; he particularly admired the work of Raphael. For some time he adopted a "classical" style, characterized by clearly defined forms and a subdued palette, but from about 1890 his canvases recovered their vivid, sensual personality. Rheumatism brought him great suffering in old age, and he was unable even to grip a brush. A move to Cagnes, in the south of France, for his health brought the warm, rich tones of Provence to his final works. It was at Cagnes that he died.

 At the end of January 1882, on his return journey from Italy, Renoir visited L'Estaque, staying at the Hotel des Bains overlooking the sea. L'Estaque, a small fishing village just west of Marseille, captivated the artist. "What a beautiful place this is!" he wrote to a friend. "It must surely be the most beautiful place in the world." To add to his delight, he was able to spend time with Cezanne, a painter he respected. In the treatment of the sea and olive grove, the horizontal and oblique strokes appear to echo the technique of Cezanne's acquaintance.

 "Spring without wind, just peaceful sunshine," he wrote to the art dealer, Durand-Ruel. "This is pretty rare in Marseille." The season was in fact winter, but the air was spring-like, clear and bright. Sunlight pours over the painting, soaking into the foliage of the olive trees and spraying into the atmosphere.

 In his later years, Renoir moved to Cagnes, in southern France. There, in the garden of his Provencal home, "Les Collettes," Renoir tried to create a shrine to love in the rose garden. He directed the creation of a sculpture of Venus victrix, an apple in her hand, as a symbol of Mount Olympus. In Ancient Greece, the word apple referred to fruit of any kind; some say it was an orange that Venus held.

 Renoir may have imagined L'Estaque, the most beautiful place in the world, as a garden of love, in which Venus strolled, fresh from her birth at sea.

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Pierre-Auguste Renoir
(1841-1919)
Les oliviers de l'Estaque

1882
Oil on canvas
37×66cm