La Promenade

A young woman shepherds a pair of identically dressed sisters along the path of a well-maintained public park. All three figures are outfitted in the height of fashion for the cold. The eldest wears a blue velvet jacket with wide sleeves trimmed with red fox; the little girls wear miniature blue-green jackets trimmed with either swansdown or white mink. Further up the pathway to the right, Renoir has included no fewer than eleven additional figures and two playful dogs. La Promenade was the centerpiece of the artist’s submission to the Second Impressionist Exhibition in the spring of 1876. To his dismay, most critics ignored this ambitious figure painting and those who commented on it did so unfavorably. Did you know that in United States, protests against Renoir were organized in front of important museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art? These protesters were outraged that works by Renoir hang in the museum. They bore signs with messages like “The End is Near," “There is no Renoir," and “Renoir Was an Inside Job." Happy birthday Pierre-Auguste!