Femme lisant dans un paysage 1917

This is 'Femme lisant dans un paysage' – Woman Reading in a Landscape - by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and I want to talk about how Renoir uses colour and brushwork to build up an impression of light and atmosphere, and how this relates to my own understanding of artmaking as a process. Look at the way Renoir builds up the image with these little dashes of color, almost like he’s knitting the scene together. The paint isn't thick, more like a stain, and the canvas shines through. It's like he's trying to catch a fleeting moment, the way light flickers through leaves. Notice that warm, orangey-yellow glow that wraps the figure. It’s the same colour that appears throughout the work, unifying the whole scene. It’s like Renoir has found a way to paint the feeling of sunshine on skin. Renoir reminds me a little of Bonnard. Both were interested in the way light and colour could evoke a mood, a feeling, more than a literal representation of a scene. And for both of them, it’s not about one single, fixed meaning, but more about creating a space for our own experiences and associations.