Woman with a Parasol and Small Child on a Sunlit Hillside

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) was a founding member of the Impressionist movement in France during the latter half of the 19th century. Impressionists sought to find ways of expressing their subjects through quick, intuitive painting techniques and loose compositions. They would often paint in situ in order to capture the fleeting qualities of the light, movements, and expressions that they observed. They sometimes finished the work in one sitting, leaving it with an unpolished look.

Renoir liked to try to capture everyday life. His earlier paintings are like soft-focus photography: they are sensual, soft, and flattering. The mother and child in this painting are bathed in summer sun. The woman is the epitome of the feminine ideal of the time: she is gentle, relaxed, and happy. She reposes on a hillside in a gentle palette of pale whites, blues, greys, and pinks. Everything about her is womanly, delicate, graceful, and demure.

Her child on the other hand is wandering off behind her, as toddlers do. Is she aware of this? Her eyes look away rather than out to meet the artist’s gaze. Is this a moment of daydreaming on a hot day, or do her subtle smile and averted gaze suggest that she is focused intently on the sound of her adventuring child?

- Sarah Mills

P.S. If you would like to learn more about the Impressionists, please check our Mega Impressionism Course and Impressionist Notebook (full of reproductions).  ; )

P.P.S. Here you can watch Pierre-Auguste Renoir while painting!