The Umbrellas by Pierre-Auguste Renoir was created in 1881. The painting is in National Gallery London. The size of the work is 180,3 x 114,9 cm and is made of oil on canvas.
This painting places us in a busy Parisian street close to six principal figures who fill the foreground. A milling crowd behind them almost completely blocks out the boulevard beyond. The top quarter of the picture is mostly filled by a canopy of at least a dozen umbrellas. Painted in two stages, with a gap of around four years between each stage, it shows the change in Renoir’s art during the 1880s, when he was beginning to move away from Impressionism and looking instead to classical art… (read more in National Gallery London)
About the Artist: French artist and Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born in Limoges, Haute-Vienne, France. Although Renoir displayed a talent for his work, he frequently tired of the subject matter and sought refuge in the galleries of the Louvre. The owner of the factory recognized his apprentice’s talent and communicated this to Renoir’s family. Following this, Renoir started taking lessons to prepare for entry into Ecole des Beaux Arts. If Renoir’s choice of subject is characteristically Impressionist, this is also true of his painting technique… read more
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