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Blonde Bather
1881
Oil on canvas
81.8 x 65.7 cm
Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark, 1926
1955.609

 

Notes:
While in Italy in 1881, Renoir was influenced by the work of ancient Roman and Italian Renaissance art. Inspired by these masters Renoir painted Blonde Bather, an attempt to give precise definition of form and solidity to a modern subject. Placed before a fluidly painted landscape--intended to evoke the coastline of Naples--the monumental nude assumes a gravity and physical presence new to Renoir's figure painting.

 

The core of the paintings collection is a large suite of Impressionist works assembled by Sterling and Francine Clark over a period of four decades. In acquiring Impressionist art, the Clarks preferred the sort of pleasing pictures-sun-dappled landscapes, portraits and nudes of young women, and still lifes-that best suited the domestic spaces of their homes. Pierre-Auguste Renoir remained for them the quintessential Impressionist, and they acquired more than 35 of his paintings. Indeed, many of the more rigorous examples-Monet's Rouen Cathedral and Pissarro's Port of Rouen-as well as later works by Gauguin and Bonnard, were purchased by the Institute in more recent years.