Romaine Lacaux in blue dress, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1864, The Cleveland Museum of Art by MadameRuiz

About "Romaine Lacaux in blue dress, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1864, The Cleveland Museum of Art"

by MadameRuiz

About the artwork

Romaine Lacaux
Pierre-Auguste Renoir,
1864
The Cleveland Museum of Art

Romaine Lacaux in a blue dress, a minor alteration to an already very beautiful painting.

In the painting: Romaine Lacaux, a little girl in a blue dress, with a white blouse with puff sleeves. In the background we see a white lace curtain and on the right side flowers. It is not entirely clear whether these are flowers or a floral wallpaper. In her ears hang two red earrings and in her hands she holds flowers.

About the painter: Pierre Auguste Renoir was a French painter from the time of Impressionism.
This art movement tries to capture a moment with a few small strokes of paint of various colors and tones. Nothing grand, just a moment of a very normal day.
Usually Impressionist paintings are done outdoors, en plein air, because sunlight has a great effect on the "moment of the day" and because the object or person being depicted is absolutely dependent on the light shining on it. Thus, it is certainly not uncommon for impressionist painters to depict an object or person multiple times, because it will simply always result in a completely different painting.

The fact that these characteristics of Impressionism are not immediately apparent in the portrait of Romaine Laceaux is probably because this work is estimated to be his earliest work that he signed.

Even though it does not exude the unposed atmosphere of an Impressionist painting, we can see how Renoir tries to capture the color and light of the moment with various small touches.

The work was commissioned by the girl's family in 1864. Through a number of wanderings, it has now ended up at The Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio.

CC0 Public Domain Designation