The Garden of Essai in Algiers 1881

Pierre-Auguste Renoir made this painting of The Garden of Essai in Algiers using oil paints. Renoir’s chosen material is crucial: oil paint, which by the late nineteenth century was a highly industrialized product, available in tubes. This allowed him to pack up his easel and paints, go out into the world, and record his impressions directly. The quick, broken brushstrokes you see here were only possible because of these pre-mixed colors, ready to apply. There’s a feeling of spontaneity, an almost slapdash quality that many other artists would have considered unfinished. But that’s precisely the point. Renoir, like the other Impressionists, was trying to capture the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere – to register the experience of being there, in that moment. It is a very particular impression, one mediated by consumer capitalism. Consider that next time you encounter a painting. It’s not just a beautiful image, but the result of complex social and economic conditions.