''Dance in the Country'' (French: ''Danse à la campagne'') is an 1883 oil painting by French artist

Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionism, Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially femininity, feminine sensuality ...

. It is currently kept at the

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French a ...

in Paris.

Background

This painting was commissioned in 1882 by the merchant

Paul Durand-Ruel Paul Durand-Ruel (31 October 1831, Paris – 5 February 1922, Paris) was a French art dealer associated with the Impressionists and the Barbizon School. Being the first to support artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste ...

who wanted works on the theme of the

ball A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but can sometimes be ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used f ...

. He bought it in 1886, exhibited it for the first time in April 1883, and kept it until Renoir's death in 1919. Two complementary painting on the same theme, named ''

Dance in the City ''Dance in the City'' is a painting by French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The 1883 work is in the collection of the Musée d'Orsay. The dancers are model and artist Suzanne Valadon and Renoir's friend Paul Auguste Lhôte. This work, along with ...

'' and ''

Dance at Bougival ''Dance at Bougival'' ( French: ''La danse à Bougival'') is an 1883 work by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, currently in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Described as "one of the museum's most beloved works", it is ...

'', were also painted by Renoir the same year. The painting, influenced by the artist's trip in

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 where he found inspiration from

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual ...

, marked an evolution of the painter who tried then to break away 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 passa ...

Description

The painting depicts a couple dancing under a chestnut tree: the man is Paul Lhôte, a friend of the painter, and the woman is

Aline Charigot Aline Victorine Charigot (23 May 1859 – 27 June 1915) was a model for Auguste Renoir and later became his wife while continuing to model for him and then caring for him when he became disabled. She is pictured in many of his paintings over ver ...

, who later became the wife of the painter. Both figures are painted life-size and occupy almost the entire painting. However, a table in the background on the right, and a hat on the ground, and a pair of faces below the level of the dance floor, can be seen. The woman who holds a fan in her right hand, displays a smiling face and looks towards the viewer. The scene is bathed in a bright and cheerful atmosphere, and the women's clothes use warm colors (yellow gloves, red hat).

Companion pieces

The paintings two companion pieces, ''

'' and ''

'', also show a couple dancing. File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir 019.jpg, File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Suzanne Valadon - Dance at Bougival - 02.jpg, File:1884_-_Renoir_-_early_Print_-_La_Danse_print.JPG, Renoir Original 1884 - ''La Danse''

References

External links

''Impressionism: a centenary exhibition''
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on this painting (p. 195-200) {{Authority control 1883 paintings Paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir Paintings in the collection of the Musée d'Orsay Dance in art