(c) 1996, Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington

Artist: Renoir
Medium: Poster
Size: 36" x 24"
.... ....91.4 x 61cm

Item #: 1381
Name: Girl with Watering Can
Price Unframed: $25.00
Price Framed: $75.00

About this painting...
Pierre-Auguste Renoir began his artistic career as a porcelain painter and went on to be employed by the Louvre, in Paris, as a copyist: a painter who copied works of the Old Masters. Among the copies he produced were two works by Peter Paul Rubens, whose influence was vital during Renoir's later years when he departed from Impressionism.

The most critical historical event for Renoir was the relationship he formed with fellow artists Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, and Frederic Bazille. The four artists met in their early twenties, became friends, and founded the basis for what was to become the Impressionist movement. Renoir would receive much support from this circle of friends throughout his career. The group would later expand to include Paul Cezanne and Camille Pisarro. They were known to go on excursions outdoors in the Forest of Fontainebleau, in search of artistic inspiration, wandering around the woods in France with their easels and knapsacks, painting what they would observe in front of their eyes.

It was in 1869 that Renoir and Monet began to paint in what would be known as the Impressionist style. Located at the Seine river near Chatou, Grenouilliere (the Frog Pond) was the location where Renoir and Monet painted three landscapes apiece, each from the same view. These would be the first Impressionist paintings. Impressionism is a style of painting in which the work is spontaneous. The idea was to paint immediate impressions as they would supposedly appear on the retina of the eye. They eliminated black shadows and painted in rainbow colors, thus creating a feeling of lightness and atmosphere. They used complementary colors when modeling forms, eliminating lines and perspective.

Although both artists painted in the Impressionist style, Monet preferred landscapes, while Renoir preferred to paint nudes and portraits, as well as narrative genre scenes, over pure landscape painting. Still-lifes are rare in his oeuvre. Seen from close up, Renoir's figures are unfocused. They are meant to be viewed from a distance, and A Girl with a Watering-Can is no exception.

Renoir frequently painted portraits of little girls. He brought to his subjects charisma and sympathy. He gave them expressions of genuine feeling. In A Girl with a Watering-Can, the child's bright blue dress with white lace and the brilliant red ribbon in her hair, contrast with her surroundings to draw the viewer's eye toward the girl, thus effectively establishing her as the focal point. Renoir's frequent attention to the costumes of his subjects is thought to be related to his family's involvement in the garment industry.

In A Girl with a Watering-Can, he depicts the scene from a low perspective, thus allowing the viewer to perceive the same visual space as the little girl. In its spontaneity, this painting evokes a feeling of childhood.