Portrait d’Ambroise Vollard au foulard rouge 1899 - 1906

Here's Pierre-Auguste Renoir's ‘Portrait of Ambroise Vollard with a Red Scarf', probably made in a studio with oil paint on canvas. Look at those brushstrokes. They are soft and gentle, laid down with care to create a sense of light and atmosphere. It's like Renoir is building up the image bit by bit, trying to capture something essential about Vollard's character. I wonder what it was like for Renoir, standing in front of his canvas, mixing paints, and trying to find the right way to convey what he saw. Did he feel a sense of frustration when things weren’t working? I think Renoir was deeply interested in the play of light and color, and how they could be used to evoke feeling. The red scarf is such a bold stroke, pulling our eye in and then letting it wander across the surface, catching the subtle nuances of light and shadow. There’s a lovely openness in his approach. Artists build on the work of those who came before, and Renoir learned from the greats.