Woman in a Blue Blouse 1906

Here is the story of Woman in a Blue Blouse by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. This painting feels like Renoir was in the middle of a thought, a very painterly thought, of course. I can see him circling around a color, that specific blue in her blouse, mixing it, testing it. How does he get those fleeting effects? You know, the way light glances off something? It’s all in the touch. I bet he was thinking about other painters while making this, maybe even challenging them in his mind. "Could Monet have done this?". The marks aren't trying to hide or be perfect, there's something really frank and kind of beautiful about that. It's like he's letting you in on a secret, showing you how painting, in the end, is always a kind of conversation. Every stroke is a question, and every painting, an answer that inspires the next question.