Portrait of Madame Duberville with Her Son Henri 1910

This is Renoir’s portrait of Madame Duberville with her son Henri, and it's all about the process. You can see it in the way the colors blend and bleed into each other, like watercolor but with oils. Look closely, and you’ll see that the paint isn’t trying to hide itself. It's thin and transparent in some areas, and thick and textured in others. In the folds of Madame Duberville’s dress, the brushstrokes are visible, almost like Renoir is showing you how he built up the image, layer by layer. The highlight for me is where the light catches the mother’s pearl necklace, it’s just a few dabs of white, but they bring the whole painting to life. It reminds me of Manet, in the way he used light and color to capture a fleeting moment. It's all about suggestion, and the beauty of leaving things unresolved.