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Use the background information and discussion questions below to introduce this important artwork.

 

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Dance at Bougival, 1883

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Background

The French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) began his career as a porcelain painter, but he went on to become a major innovator in art and influenced 20th-century artists like Pablo Picasso.

Early in his career, Renoir began copying paintings at the Louvre museum in Paris. He soon met up with a group of artists that included Claude Monet and Alfred Sisley. Together, they began to rebel against the rigid rules set by the French Academy, whose members decided which artworks would be shown in its prestigious Salon exhibitions. The Academy selected large paintings painted in a realistic style, and rejected those that did not conform to these ideals.

Renoir and other rebellious artists began to take their easels outdoors, where they experimented with using quick brushstrokes of bright color to capture the effects of sunlight across buildings, grass, trees, and rippling water. Instead of the grandiose historical scenes favored by the French Academy, these artists painted scenes of everyday life: dancing at outdoor cafés, boating parties on sun-drenched rivers, leisurely picnics on the grass. In 1874, these rebels began mounting their own exhibitions. Art critics were outraged. One even called the new group of artists a bunch of “lunatics.” Today, however, they are known—and revered—as the Impressionists.

Dance at Bougival re-creates a scene from an outdoor café in a Paris suburb. Renoir uses small, repeated brushstrokes of vivid color to convey a sense of joy. The focal point of the composition is the young woman’s face, framed by her bright-red bonnet. Her light dress stands out against the man’s dark-blue suit and the hazy figures in the background. The repetition of brushstrokes creates texture and a sense of the dancers’ whirling movements. Renoir avoids the use of hard edges or heavy lines— everything in the composition has a soft, sometimes blurry quality.

Renoir specialized in images of beautiful young women. In Dance at Bougival, the female dancer seems especially young and perhaps a bit innocent, in her delicate, pale-pink dress. Her dance partner seems captivated by her, but she turns away from his intense gaze.

Discussion

  • What are some characteristics of Impressionist paintings?
    (Impressionists painted scenes of everyday life, using quick brushstrokes of bright color. They were especially interested in showing the shimmering effects of reflected sunlight in natural settings.)
  • Why did Renoir and other Impressionists prefer painting outdoors?
    (Painting outdoors offered artists the opportunity to observe and capture the effects of natural light.)
  • What might have been some reasons why many art critics were offended by Impressionist art?
    (They might have found the subject matter offensive; critics preferred grand historical scenes to paintings that depicted ordinary activities. Impressionist artworks would have looked sloppy or unfinished to critics who expected to see nearphotographic realism in a painting.)
  • How has Renoir created a sense of excitement and motion in Dance at Bougival?
    (The artist uses quick, repeated brushstrokes of intense, vibrant color. He frames the young woman’s face in bright red, making it the focal point of the composition. The repeated brushstrokes create a sense of the dancers’ whirling motions and a general sense of fun and excitement among the chattering figures in the background.)
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