Young Man in a Red Tie, Portrait of Eugene Renoir 1890

Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted this portrait of his son, Eugene Renoir, with oil on canvas in France. The portrait provides an intimate glimpse into the life of a bourgeois family in late 19th-century France. The trappings of the Renoir’s middle-class status are on full display with Eugene’s suit, and the artist’s technique lends a soft-focus quality to the scene, idealizing the sitter and his station in life. The red tie is a focal point. Red was associated with the burgeoning socialist movement. It is worth asking whether Renoir was signalling his allegiance to leftist politics. However, Renoir was supported by the French upper classes and had a reputation for being politically conservative, so the red tie might just be a bold aesthetic choice. Art historians look at letters, biographies, and social histories to better understand the complex ways in which artistic choices both reflect and shape the politics of their time.