''By the Seashore'' is a painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir completed in 1883 and is now housed in the

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History

Renoir made a trip to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in 1881-82 and was deeply influenced by

Renaissance art Renaissance art (1350 – 1620 AD) is the painting, sculpture, and decorative arts of the period of European history known as the Renaissance, which emerged as a distinct style in Italy in about AD 1400, in parallel with developments which occ ...

. After this trip he began to explore a new manner of painting, different from

impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

. He started to emphasize contours and modeling, abandoned the principle that scenes should be painted outdoors to capture light and atmosphere. Late in the summer of 1883, Renoir spent about a month in

St. Peter Port St. Peter Port (french: Saint-Pierre Port) is a town and one of the ten parishes on the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It is the capital of the Bailiwick of Guernsey as well as the main port. The population in 2019 was 18,958. St. P ...

, the capital of Guernsey, and admired the rocks, cliffs and stunning view of Moulin Huet Bay in St. Martin. He painted the starts of fifteen pictures during his stay, most of which were finished later in his

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studio. Guernsey lies 48 km off the coast of mainland Normandy. Both share the same geology and Guernsey fulfills the "by the sea" criterion in the exhibition title. However, ''By the Seashore'' is thought to have been painted in the artist's studio. The beach depicted here is probably not in the Channel Islands but near Dieppe, on the Normandy coast. The model was Aline Charigot, his then girlfriend, whom he married in 1890. The arc of the sitter's dark eyebrows and saucily tilted nose in that pleasant, rosy-cheeked face are common to works by Renoir. By the Seashore proto-typically reflects this period in Renoir's art. He worked with small compositions in the field that he then pulled together in more elaborate, larger works while in his studio. He was also playing with the disparity of space and scale between figure and background at this time.

Provenance

The painting is in the collection of the Metropolitan since 1929 from the bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer.

References

Sources

* The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (information table beside the painting) {{ACArt Paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir 1883 paintings Culture of Guernsey Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Water in art Ships in art

History

Provenance

See also

References

Sources