Study for The Saone Embraced by the Rhone 1915

Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted this study for The Saone Embraced by the Rhone with oil on canvas, but it feels like he’s painting with light itself. Look at the way the brushstrokes aren't trying to hide. You see them dancing all over the canvas. The texture! It’s so alive, like the whole scene is breathing. See how the pinks and peaches blend together to make skin, and then how they almost dissolve into the blues and greens of the background? It's not just colors; it's a whole atmosphere. And those little touches of white? They make everything shimmer. It's like he's not just showing us a scene but giving us a feeling. I love the way the man's hands reach around the woman's waist, like he's trying to hold onto something precious but it's slipping away. There's a sense of longing, of wanting to connect with something beautiful and fleeting. It reminds me of the way Fragonard used to paint. It's as if they are sharing thoughts, or maybe it’s just a conversation between two paintings.