Picking Flowers

1875

Auguste Renoir

Artist, French, 1841 - 1919

A light-skinned man and woman stand looking at each other, surrounded by blooming flowers and lush green trees in this square landscape painting. The palette is dominated by shades of vibrant green and blue, and is loosely painted with daubs and short strokes, making details indistinct. The people stand to our left of center and both are dressed in navy blue. The man stands facing our right, almost in profile, and bends forward slightly with one hand gesturing toward the flowers. He wears a vest and trousers, a white shirt, and a butterscotch-gold hat. The woman stands near him to our right, and faces us with her head turned to look at the man. She wears a long gown, a cherry-red hat, andwhat appears to be a denim-blue and cherry-red scarf around her neck. The trees fill right half of the painting, and the profusion of flowering bushes closest to us almost spans the width of the scene. Their blooms are suggested with touches of rose and petal pink, cream white, mustard yellow, and azure blue. More flowering bushes behind the man and woman are suggested by loosely painted areas of parchment white and laurel green, with scattered dots of poppy red. Pale pink clouds swirl through the topaz-blue sky in the upper left corner. The artist signed the painting in the lower right, “Renoir.”

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 54.3 x 65.2 cm (21 3/8 x 25 11/16 in.)
    framed: 78.1 x 88.9 x 7.6 cm (30 3/4 x 35 x 3 in.)

  • Accession

    1970.17.61

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

George Viau, Paris; (his sale, Durand-Ruel, Paris, 4 March 1907, no. 55, as “Au Jardin”); (Bernheim-Jeune);[1] (Durand-Ruel, Paris and New York); (Sam Salz, Paris).[2] (Galerie Barbazanges, Paris); (sold 30 June 1923 to M. Knoedler & Co., Paris).[3] (Howard Young Galleries, New York); Mrs. L.L. Coburn, Chicago, by 1929;[4] The Art Institute of Chicago until 1947;[5] (Carroll Carstairs, New York); sold 1 December 1947 to Ailsa Mellon Bruce [1901-1969], New York;[6] bequest 1970 to NGA.
[1] Maximilien Lecordier kindly provided the information of Bernheim-Jeune’s purchase at the Durand-Ruel sale, as per documentation in the Archives de Paris, D48E3 90 (see e-mail of 17 February 2025 in NGA curatorial files.
[2] Per François Daulte; see also Guy-Patrice and Michel Dauberville, Renoir: Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles, 5 vols., Paris, 2007, vol I, no. 92. Although the Daubervilles locate Salz in New York in their provenance, he did not settle in New York until 1938, so the painting must have been with him in Paris.
[3] Knoedler painting stock book no. 7, p.53, row 37, stock no. 15648. According to a note in the stock book, Knoedler sold the painting in Paris in1923.
[4] Date according to the Dauberville catalogue raisonné. The painting was lent to Exhibition of the Mrs. L.L. Coburn Collection Modern Paintings and Water Colors, at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1932 (no. 30).
[5] Letter to David Rust, from the Art Institute of Chicago, dated 12 January 1977, now in NGA curatorial files.
[6] Date and source of Mrs. Bruce's acquisition according to her papers, now in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1923

  • Exhibition of Nineteenth Century French Painters, M. Knoedler & Company, London, 1923, no. 45 as La Cueillette de Fleurs, pastel.

1932

  • Exhibition of the Mrs. L.L. Coburn Collection Modern Paintings and Watercolors, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1932, no. 30.

1933

  • A Century of Progress, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933, no. 349.

1934

  • A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, Art Institute of Chicago, 1934, no. 241.

1966

  • French Paintings from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966, no. 102, repro.

1989

  • Impressionisti della National Gallery of Art di Washington, Ala Napoleonica e Museo Correr, Venice; Palazzo Reale, Milan, 1989, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

1995

  • Five Hundred Years of French Art, San Antonio Museum of Art, 1995, fig. 49, repro.

1996

  • Renoir: Gemälde 1860-1917, Kunsthalle Tübingen, Germany, 1996, no. 36, repro.

2000

  • Loan to display with permanent collection, Portland (Oregon) Art Museum, 2000, no catalogue.

2005

  • Renoir: und das Frauenbild des Impressionismus (Renoir and the Female Image of the Impressionist Epoch), Kunsthalle Krems, Krems-Stein, Austria, 2005, unnumbered catalogue, repro. 50.

2007

  • Renoir Landscapes 1865-1883, The National Gallery, London; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2007-2008, no. 38, repro.

2010

  • Parigi. Gli anni meravigliosi. Impressionismo contro Salon [Paris. The Marvelous Years. Impressionism versus Salon], Castel Sismondo, Rimini, 2010-2011, no. 32, repro.

2012

  • Renoir: la vie en peinture, Scuderie del Castello Visconteo, Pavia, 2012, no. 3, repro.

2013

  • Intimate Impressionism from the National Gallery of Art, Museo dell'Ara Pacis Augustae, Rome (exhibition title in this venue: Impressionist Gems); California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco; McNay Art Museum, San Antonio; Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo, Seattle Art Museum, 2013-2016, pl. 16.

Bibliography

1929

  • Meier-Graefe, Julius. Renoir. Leipzig, 1929:114, no. 94, repro.

1935

  • Barnes, Albert C. and Violette de Mazia. The Art of Renoir. New York, 1935:68, 100, 398, 450, repro. 257.

1972

  • Fezzi, Elda. L'opera completa di Renoir nel period impressionista. Milan, 1972: no. 439.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 298, repro.

1980

  • Kelder, Diane. The Great Book of French Impressionism. New York, 1980: 438, repro.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 471, no. 693, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 343, repro.

1997

  • Kelder, Diane. The Great Book of French Impressionism, 1997, no. 217, repro.

2006

  • Søndergaard, Sidsel Maria. Women in Impressionism: From Mythical Feminine to Modern Woman. Exh. cat. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen. Milan, 2006: 158, 160 fig. 123.

Inscriptions

lower right: Renoir.

Wikidata ID

Q20188794

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