Roses in a Vase
Renoir, Pierre-Auguste.
Oil on canvas. 61.5x50.7 cm
France. Circa 1910/1917
Source of Entry: formerly in the collection of Otto Krebs, Holzdorf.
Transferred from Germany after World War II

In old age, Renoir loved roses as no other flower, painting them enthusiastically and often, especially red roses. By that time, his acuity of perception had lessened somewhat. The delicate nuances characteristic of his early, Impressionist work gave way to a wish to evoke the sheer tangibility of the object. If before, Renoir had applied colour in transparent layers, essential for obtaining many of the subtlest shades, now he used thick brushstrokes. His works painted at this time lack his previous subtlety, but they become more expressive, even expressionistic. Here, the texture of the roses is boldly re-created with circular strokes that share a single gestural rhythm, the imprint of the artist's action. The principles of an art of painterly abstraction that would arise in the mid-20th century were beginning to be established by an artist from whom they might be least expected.