Still life with Strawberries 

Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted this still life with strawberries using oil paints on canvas, sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. What's interesting here is the directness of Renoir's technique. Notice how he hasn’t tried to hide the materiality of the paint, or the woven texture of the canvas underneath. Instead, he celebrates the qualities of his medium. The loose brushwork and thick impasto give the strawberries a palpable sense of volume and ripeness. This approach reflects a broader shift in art history. Artists began to embrace visible brushstrokes and celebrate the act of painting itself. It's a move away from academic painting, which favoured a more polished and illusionistic style. We might consider this in relation to the social context. Renoir was working at a time when industrialization was transforming society, as was the rise of consumer culture. Yet here, he offers an intimate glimpse of the everyday. By drawing our attention to the materiality of the paint, Renoir reminds us that art is not just about representation, but also about the process of making. This bridges the gap between fine art and craft, as it validates the labour and skill involved in artistic creation.