Woman in a Blue Blouse 1906

This is Renoir’s painting, Woman in a Blue Blouse, where the paint has been applied in soft, feathery strokes. The way he builds the form with color and tone is very delicate, like he’s trying not to wake her. The way he’s built up her cheek with these pink and red dabs, so light they’re almost transparent. It’s interesting to see how he’s chosen to represent the form, not as a solid object but as a field of energy, of light and color. Look at the folds of her blouse, how the white is touched with blue and yellow, and how the brush seems to dance across the surface, teasing out the forms. He isn’t obscuring his process, but he isn’t showing off either, instead, he has balanced showing the work of the painting and a likeness of the subject. Renoir has always had a fascination with representing women, and his work is almost reminiscent of artists like Fragonard or Boucher, with that sense of intimacy and quiet observation. I think this painting is as much about the act of seeing and feeling as it is about the woman herself. There’s a kind of quiet exchange between the artist and the model that makes the work so engaging.