Landscape (sketch) 1917

Curator: What a beautiful and deceptively complex landscape by Renoir, painted in 1917. It’s simply titled “Landscape (sketch)." The work is oil on canvas, and currently resides in a private collection. Editor: It shimmers. My first impression is a sort of warm, encompassing light. Everything blurs slightly. Is there a figure in there? It almost disappears within the strokes of paint. Curator: Yes, the human figure becomes integrated back into the natural landscape, perhaps challenging our anthropocentric views. Late-period Renoir often sought to blur boundaries in this way. Considering the backdrop of the first world war, we might interpret the submersion of a female figure as indicative of gendered anxieties prevalent at the time. Editor: Indeed. I see symbolic potential in that blurring – a dissolving of clear form. It suggests a move away from the solidity and materialism that had, perhaps, led to that very war. The golden light feels like an attempt to find something transcendent and eternal in the face of turmoil. Curator: I would agree with that reading. Considering that Renoir suffered from rheumatoid arthritis during this period, making plein-air painting increasingly challenging, one could also understand the diffuse quality as resulting from a change in the artist’s physical perception. He had to adapt to his physical limitations and in the process opened up entirely new ways of viewing. Editor: I see hints of Arcadian symbolism too – figures reclining in nature, hidden clearings. Perhaps a cultural memory resurfacing. This links back to long traditions of representing idealised pastoral scenes, but with that modern sensibility, Renoir translates the tradition into something more dreamlike and ephemeral. Curator: The way the female figure blends so seamlessly with the background does undermine the male gaze which had dominated so much landscape art until that point. The impressionists aimed to democratise vision, to suggest different subjectivities. Renoir challenges conventional social structures. Editor: I agree. Thinking about Renoir's symbol usage gives the work extra depths. The landscape seems to cradle a new era. Curator: Exactly! And understanding his social and political context only amplifies its poignancy. Editor: Thank you, I see it in a fresh light now. Curator: You're most welcome.