Vase de roses 1913 - 1915

This is Renoir’s Vase of Roses, a small painting that gives us a bunch of blooms, fresh from the garden. Look at how Renoir has built up this painting, layer upon layer, with marks that are kind of tentative but bold. You know, like he’s figuring it out as he goes along. The roses aren't perfect, but they’re alive, right? I think the paint is thin, which means it’s probably applied in these see-through layers, building up depth and color, until…voila! That single stroke of dark pink near the top? It's a little nudge that brings your eye right into the painting. Renoir was a master of this casual, yet deliberate approach. I bet that when he was making this, he was thinking about other flower painters, but was like, "How can I make this my own?" You know, like, how can I push it, make it fresh, make it new? It’s this continuous back-and-forth, this conversation between artists across time that keeps painting so vital. And in the end, it’s not about perfection. It’s about embracing the mess, the uncertainty, and finding something real and human in the process.