Bust of a Woman in a Red Blouse 1905

Pierre-Auguste Renoir made this oil painting, "Bust of a Woman in a Red Blouse", and what strikes me is how the colours seem to build the form of the woman. Look at how he layers the colours, how the reds and oranges create this warm, vibrating surface. It's not just about depicting someone, but really about the act of painting, the push and pull of applying pigment to canvas. The way the brushstrokes are visible, almost like individual threads woven together, shows how the process becomes part of the final image. I keep coming back to the blouse, how Renoir suggests its shape and texture with these quick, confident strokes. There's a physicality to the paint, a sense of the artist's hand moving across the canvas, which is what painting is all about, a conversation between the artist, the subject and the paint itself. Renoir reminds me of Manet, both masters of capturing light and atmosphere. With them, there's always more to discover.