Girl with a Hoop

1885

Auguste Renoir

Artist, French, 1841 - 1919

A young girl with pale skin and long brown hair looks at us as she braces a tall, wooden hoop with one hand by her hip in this vertical painting. The girl stands close to us with her body angled to our right, and she looks at us from the corners of her dark blue eyes. Her delicate nose, rosy cheeks, and closed, rose-pink lips are set in a heart-shaped face. She has wavy, chestnut-brown hair that falls loosely around her shoulders. Bangs brush across her forehead, and her hair is pulled back in half, tied in a pale blue ribbon. She wears a sky-blue dress with a ruffle around the wide collar. The long sleeves are rolled back over her wrists, and the dress is tied at the waist with an aquamarine-blue sash tied into a bow at her lower back. The knee-length skirt flares out from the waist. She wears ice-blue socks pulled halfway up her shins and black, low-heeled Mary Jane-style shoes tied with bows over the arches. One foot turns to rest on the bottom edge of the wooden hoop she braces with her left hand, farther from us. She holds a short stick by her side with the other hand. The ground around her is painted with blended areas of muted topaz blue, peach, and canary yellow. The top third of the background is a loosely painted garden, with lime and spring-green leaves, and a cluster of shell-pink flowers to our right. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower left corner, “Renoir. 85.”

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.
On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 85

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Chester Dale Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 125.7 x 76.6 cm (49 1/2 x 30 3/16 in.)
    framed: 148 x 100.6 cm (58 1/4 x 39 5/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1963.10.58

More About this Artwork

Video:  Renoir's Paintings Come to Life for the Holidays

Watch as Auguste Renoir's paintings, Girl with a Hoop and The Dancer, come to life before your eyes!

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Commissioned by the sitter's father, Sénateur Étienne Goujon [Etienne Devilliers], Paris; by inheritance to E. Chapuis, Paris, the husband of the sitter; (Chapuis sale, Galerie George Petit, Paris, 4 March 1920, no. 208, withdrawn); sold 1920 by Chapuis to (Paul Rosenberg and Co., London, New York and Paris); sold to Marquis de Rochecouste, Paris; sold to (Bernheim-Jeune, Paris);[1] on joint account 1928/1929 with (M. Knoedler & Co., London, New York and Paris); sold December 1929 to (Bernheim-Jeune, Paris);[2] by whom sold to (Galerie Thannhauser, Berlin); sold before 1931 to Max Silberberg [d. 1944], Breslau;[3] (his sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 9 June 1932, no. 29); purchased by Chester Dale [1882-1962], New York; bequest 1963 to NGA.
[1]See letter from Paul Rosenberg to Chester Dale, dated 5 August 1932, in NGA curatorial files, in which the Marquis' name is spelled Rochegouste. According to a letter from François Daulte dated 30 January 1965, in NGA curatorial files, the name is correctly spelled Rochecouste.
[2]See notes of David Rust's conversation with Knoedler & Co., dated 15 October 1964, in NGA curatorial files.
[3]Published in "Die Sammlung Max Silberberg," Kunst und Kunstler, October 1931, p. 12.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1921

  • Exhibition of Paintings by the Great French Impressionists from the Collection of Paul Rosenberg of Paris, Wildenstein & Co., New York, 1921, no. 20

1934

  • Exhibition of French Painting from the Fifteenth Century to the Present Day, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1934, no. 142, repro.

1959

  • Masterpieces of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Painting, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959, unnumbered cat., repro.

1965

  • The Chester Dale Bequest, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965, unnumbered checklist.

2010

  • From Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, January 2010-January 2012, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

Bibliography

1920

  • "Un abus de droit de propriété." Le Bulletin de la vie artistique (1 April 1920): 150, repro.

  • Lecomte, Georges. "L'Oeuvre de Renoir." L'Art et les artistes (January 1920):149, repro.

1924

  • Vollard, Ambroise Auguste Renoir. Berlin, 1924: repro.

1929

  • Meier-Graefe, Julius. Renoir. Leipzig, 1929: repro. p. 226, no. 181.

1931

  • Scheffler, Karl. "Die Sammlung Max Silberberg," Kunst und Künstler (October 1931):12, 14, repro. opposite p. 10

1932

  • "Important Group of Modern Paintings to Be Offered In Notable Dispersal at the Hotel Drouot on June 9." Art News (21 May 1932):5, 9.

  • "The Sale of the S...& S... Collections." _Formes XXV (May 1932):282, repro opp 281.

1935

  • Barnes, Albert C. and Violette de Mazia. The Art of Renoir. New York, 1935: no. 154.

  • Bertram, Anthony. August Renoir. London, 1935: repro. plate XVIII

1943

  • Graber, Hans. Auguste Renoir nach eigenen und fremden Zeugnissen. Basel, 1943: repro opposite 172.

1963

  • MacNeil, Neil. "Chester Dale: Collector." McCalls (November 1963):122, repro.

1965

  • Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Paintings & Sculpture of the French School in the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 112, repro.

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 112.

1966

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 2:448, color repro.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 100, repro.

1971

  • Daulte, Francois. Auguste Renoir, catalogue raisonne de l'oeuvre peint. Vol.I. Figures 1860-1890. Lausanne, 1971: no. 470

1972

  • Fezzi, Elda. L'opera completa di Renoir nel period impressionista. Milan, 1972: no. 618.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 294, repro.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 465, no. 675, color repro.

  • White, Barbara Ehrlich. Renoir: His Life, Art, and Letters. New York, 1984:repro. 164.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 338, repro.

  • Arts Council of Great Britain. Renoir. Exh. cat., Hayward Gallery , London, Galleries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1985-1986:247, under no. 76.

1997

  • Bailey, Colin B._ Renoir's Portraits: Impressions of an age_.Yale University Press New Haven and London, in association with National Gallery of Canada Ottawa, 1997,no.258,repro.

  • Kelder, Diane. The Great Book of French Impressionism. New York, 1997: no. 234, repro.

2012

  • Kennicott, Philip. "French Rooms Reopen, With Different Accents." Washington Post 135, no. 55 (January 29, 2012): E25..

Inscriptions

lower left: Renoir. 85.

Wikidata ID

Q20189761

You may be interested in

Loading Results