Still LIfe with Glass and Lemon 

Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Still Life with Glass and Lemon is a celebration of everyday objects, brought to life on canvas with oil paints. Renoir’s application of paint is remarkably textured. You can see it most prominently in the play of light on the glass and the soft folds of the tablecloth. Look closely, and you will see how the glass and the porcelain sugar bowl are rendered with an attention to detail that belies their status as mass-produced goods. The spoon in the glass, the knife on the table, and even the imported lemon, speak to a culture of increasing consumerism in France at the time. They also speak to class, a comfortable middle class who were the consumers of these goods. Renoir’s genius lies in his ability to imbue these objects with a sense of luxuriousness. He elevates the mundane to the level of fine art. It is a reminder that even the most ordinary materials can be transformed into something extraordinary through skillful making.