(1880-1881)
130 x 173 cm
Phillips Collection, Washington
A group of friends enjoy breakfast on the sunlit terrace of an outdoor café on the banks of a river a few kilometers outside of Paris. The place where the painting was painted was the Fournaise restaurant, located on an island in Chatou, on the Seine. It was a place where representatives of high society, poets, actors, intellectuals and rowing enthusiasts liked to meet. Same as on more early painting Renoir's "Ball at the Moulin de la Galette", it conveys the free, lively atmosphere that arises in the company of Parisians who have gone out to relax in the fresh air. Very modern in content, this painting at the same time clearly echoes the paintings of old masters depicting feasts, in particular the works of the 16th-century Venetian artist Veronese. Despite the fact that the painting conveys a sense of spontaneity of the moment, Renoir carefully built its composition over several months, inviting models (his friends and specially invited people) to the Chateau, who posed for him separately.
Paintings depicting Parisians relaxing outside the city allowed Renoir and other impressionists to combine their interest in scenes modern life with work in the open air. Renoir and his friend Monet had previously, back in 1869, painted vacationing Parisians, sitting side by side on the shore of the Paddling Pool in Bougival, one and a half kilometers from Chatou. And subsequently, scenes of relaxation on the river continued to inspire the artist.
Many suburban holiday destinations like Chatou (where The Rowers' Luncheon was written) became easily accessible to Parisians with the development of the railway network in mid-century.
By 1880, Chatou had become a favorite destination active rest, where not only rich Parisians, but also working people came for the weekend. Different towns located on the banks of the Seine near Paris provided different types of water recreation. For example, Argenteuil, where Monet settled in 1873, eventually turned into a real yacht club, which is why many of this artist’s paintings feature boats with snow-white sails. Rowing enthusiasts gathered mainly in Asnieres and Chatou, and we find boats with rowers in the paintings of Renoir and Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894), who painted the same scenes in completely different manners. Renoir's canvases convey to the viewer the languid laziness of weekends spent on the river, while Caillebotte focuses on the physical efforts of the athletes. Caillebotte, who himself was a good rower and yachtsman, we can see in Renoir's painting. He sits in the foreground on the right, wearing a tank top and a traditional straw boater hat.
Mark Zakharovich Chagall (July 7, 1887 - March 28, 1985) Once as a child, a gypsy woman predicted to him that he would live extraordinary life, will love one extraordinary woman and two ordinary ones, and die... in flight. *** Mark was the eldest of 10 children of fish peddler Zakhar Chagall. As a child, he loved his mother very much. He was generally a man with a lot of love. He loved everyone - people, animals... He studied poorly at the gymnasium, but suddenly he realized that there was such a profession in the world - to draw. Chagall left his native Vitebsk and went to Saint Petersburg. But no matter where he lives in the future, he will draw the same Vitebsk pillars, fences, pigs, goats, puddles, a violinist, a coachman, an organ grinder, a rabbi... And he will draw his beloved Bella for many years. He fell in love with her at the age of 22. She was a beauty, spiritual and airy. She studied in Stanislavsky's studio, tried herself in literature, was interested in philosophy... In her presence, Mark experienced an unprecedented feeling of weightlessness, soaring and peace. Often he painted her like this - serenely soaring in the sky, and himself flying next to her - over fences, over pillars, over ordinary and sweet Vitebsk. *** A year after they met, Bella and Mark were bride and groom. The wedding seemed a done deal, and suddenly everything changed - the young man in love began to be tormented by some kind of vague anxiety, some kind of melancholy... In a word, one fine day he suddenly decided to run away from his bride to Paris. Those who knew him and Bella were amazed. And she herself remained calm. Being an unusually intelligent woman and also gifted with extraordinary intuition, Bella understood what was happening to her beloved man better than he himself. Some mysterious instinct called him on the road. Like a rook or crane in the fall! But he will return,” she explained. And throughout the four years of separation she wrote letters to her fiance - beautiful, poetic, tender... Bella waited for her Mark. They got married and again he pictured himself and his Bella flying in the sky, free and in love. In 1916, his daughter Ida was born, and he began to paint her too. *** And then two revolutions took place in Russia, one after another. Bella slowly sold all her family jewelry to feed her daughter - famine was raging in the country. In 1922, Chagall and his family left for Kaunas, from there to Berlin, then back to Paris. Chagall lived in France until the Second World War, and in May 1941 the family boarded a ship bound for America. They arrived in New York the day after Germany attacked the Soviet Union. In 1944, he died as a result of complications from the flu. only love, his wife Bella. For nine months, easels with sketches were turned to the wall - Mark Zakharovich could not draw. He couldn't do anything at all - neither talk to anyone, nor go anywhere, nor want anything. If this continued, he would either go crazy or die. *** And then Ida (she was already 28 years old) hired a housekeeper for her father - a stunning beauty, with a face reminiscent of her mother, who was also superbly educated and from a good family - Virginia Haggard's father was once the British consul in the USA. Chagall was then fifty-eight years old, Virginia - just over thirty. No, he still loved his Bella, and death had no power in this. But loneliness was unbearable for Chagall. Soon Virginia gave birth to his son. He was named David after one of Chagall's brothers. But the boy was given his mother’s last name, which she had left over from her first marriage – McNeill. After all, David was born out of wedlock. In 1948, the whole family, obeying Chagall's wanderlust, moved to Paris. *** Virginia turned out to be similar to Bella only in appearance. She ran away from Chagall with an artist - either a Swede or a Norwegian - and took her son with her. For Chagall it was big drama, he even thought about suicide. His daughter Ida eventually found Valentina Brodskaya, who was then living in England, and persuaded her to become the artist’s companion for a while. She was a quarter of a century younger than Chagall. Pretty, but ordinary. Chagall already had an extraordinary woman in his life, and the gypsy did not promise him another one. Their marriage turns out to be happy, although Bella still remains the artist's muse. In the 1950s, Chagall and his family traveled a lot, including around the Mediterranean - Greece and Italy. Since the 1960s, Chagall mainly switched to monumental forms of art - mosaics, stained glass, tapestries, and also became interested in sculpture and ceramics. In the early 1960s, at the request of the Israeli government, Chagall created mosaics and tapestries for the parliament building in Jerusalem. After this success, he becomes a kind of “Andrei Rublev” of his time and receives many orders for the decoration of Catholic, Lutheran churches and synagogues throughout Europe, America and Israel. In 1964, Chagall painted the ceiling of the Paris Grand Opera commissioned by the French President Charles de Gaulle, in 1966 he created two panels for the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and in Chicago he decorated the National Bank building with the mosaic “The Four Seasons” (1972). In 1966, Chagall moved to a house built especially for him, which also served as a workshop, located in the province of Nice - in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. In 1973, at the invitation of the Ministry of Culture of the Soviet Union, Chagall visited Leningrad and Moscow. An exhibition is being organized for him at the Tretyakov Gallery. The artist gives the USSR several of his works. In 1977, Marc Chagall was awarded France's highest award - the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, and in 1977-1978 an exhibition of the artist's works was organized in the Louvre, dedicated to the artist's 90th anniversary. Contrary to all the rules, the Louvre exhibited works by a still living author! Until his last days, Chagall continued to paint, make mosaics, stained glass, sculptures, ceramics, and work on scenery for theater productions. On March 28, 1985, at the age of 98, Marc Chagall died in an elevator, rising after a whole day of work in the workshop. He died “in flight,” as a gypsy woman once predicted for him, and as he depicted himself flying in his paintings. He was buried in the local cemetery. There is a “Chagall Committee”, which includes four of his heirs.
The French artist Pierre Auguste Renoir was the first of the Impressionists to achieve success with the Parisians. Renoir was not only a master of portraiture, but also of landscape, still life and genre scenes. One of his most famous paintings– “The Rowers' Breakfast” was written in 1880-1881.
Renoir's painting depicts a group of friends enjoying brunch on the upper terrace of the Fournet restaurant in Chatou. The village of Chatou was located near such resort towns as La Grenouillere (“The Paddling Pool”), Bruzival and Argenteuil, located along the Seine to the west of Paris. Chatou was easily accessible by train from Gare Saint-Lazare and was a popular destination for boat rides, delicious meals and overnight stays. At the end of 1880, Renoir stayed in Chatou and painted several works at the Fournet restaurant. Luncheon of the Rowers is often compared to Renoir's earlier work, Ball at the Moulin de la Galette (1876). It is believed that “The Luncheon of the Rowers” is the artist’s response to the writer Emile Zola, the author of “Review of the Paris Salon of 1880.” Zola criticized the work of the Impressionists for being "unfinished, illogical, exaggerated" and encouraged them to create more solid and complex works that represented modern life.
Auguste Renoir "The Breakfast of the Rowers", 1880-1881
For “The Luncheon of the Rowers” (oil on canvas 130x173) Renoir was posed by his friends, who came to Chatou separately. On the left, the woman with the dog is Alina Sharigo, who was Renoir’s partner and then his wife. Behind her stands the restaurant owner's son, Alphonse Fournet Jr. In the group on the right you can recognize the artist Gustave Caillebotte, sitting next to him is the model Angele Legault, and the journalist Antonio Maggiolo is leaning over them. Also in the painting, Renoir depicted actress Jeanne Samary, Baron Raoul Barbier, poet Jules Laforgue and others.
Despite the apparent ease of the scene, its composition was carefully constructed. The viewer's gaze is skillfully directed from Caillebotte, sitting in the foreground on the right, to the girl leaning on the railing and further to the boats on the Seine and the Chatou railway bridge. All characters are depicted in natural poses, the features and faces of the models, their gestures are clearly defined. This significantly distinguishes the picture from the Ball in the Moulin de la Galette, in which some definition is given only to the figures in the foreground and middle ground.
Auguste Renoir "Ball at the Moulin de la Galette", 1876
The soft orange light breaking through the awning harmonizes with the orange and red details in the characters’ clothing, and spots of bright blue and green scattered throughout the composition decorate and unify the scene. The central position in the composition is occupied by the table, but the sketchiness of his painting forces the eye to move to more detailed figures. A backdrop of green foliage behind the terrace creates a feeling of intimacy and relaxation in your own company.
In the painting, the smooth and subtle painting of faces contrasts with the impressionistic style of painting in detail; in particular, the freely painted glasses, bottles and food on the table, haphazard brushstrokes conveying the background vegetation, remain impressionistic. On the dresses and faces of the characters, texture, light and shadow are conveyed with sharp strokes, and details are concentrated with splashes of color. The image of a small dog masterfully combines subtle brush strokes, subtle changes in color and tone, the way of applying layers of paint and smooth color transitions.
Renoir uses bright colors to highlight details and accentuate faces. Cream and blue colors with bright red accents are scattered throughout the painting and unify the figures, which are placed diagonally. Some elements are repeated to balance the composition and guide the viewer's eye, such as light yellow straw hats and pale blues, pinks and yellow colors in the shadows on white T-shirts and tablecloths. Pure unmixed colors are also used, for example, red on the flowers of Alina's hat, blue on Angela's dress and green on the fruits and bottles on the table. The bright elements in the foreground also contrast with the darker and muted figures and trees in the background.
In February 1881, the painting “The Breakfast of the Rowers” was bought from Renoir by the dealer Paul Durand-Ruel for 15 thousand francs. This is quite a large amount for that time. After Paul's death in 1923, his sons sold the painting to the famous American collector Duncan Phillips for $125,000, and it remained in his collection. Since 1930, Renoir's masterpiece, along with the rest of the Phillips collection, moved to a building in Dupont Circle in Washington, which is now used as an art museum.
Renoir's painting "The Breakfast of the Rowers" became the motif for the French series "Crackelures" about impressionist artists.
8 interesting facts about Pierre Auguste Renoir
1. Renoir was born on February 25, 1841 in the city of Limoges, located in south-central France. The future artist was the sixth child of seven children of the poor tailor Leonard Renoir and his wife Margarita.
2. Auguste Renoir could well have become a singer. As a child, he sang in a church choir in Paris, where his family moved. The choir director tried to persuade the parents to send the boy to study music. However, Renoir showed ability in drawing; at the age of 13, he began helping the family by painting porcelain dishes. And in the evenings he attended art school.
3. The artist served in the army from 1870 to 1871 during the Franco-Prussian War.
4. Auguste Renoir was always attracted to the image of the human figure. He first studied the paintings of the old masters in the Louvre, and then in 1881 he went to Italy, where he was especially struck by the works of Raphael.
5. In 1890, Renoir married Alina Charigot. He had met her ten years earlier, when she was 21 years old and working as a seamstress. Alina often posed for Renoir. They had three sons - Pierre in 1885, Jean in 1894 and Claude in 1901.
Alina Sharigo posed for the artist for the painting “Dance in the Village”
6. Auguste Renoir was the first of the impressionists to gain fame among wealthy Parisians, and in last years His life brought him universal recognition. In 1917, his painting "Umbrellas" was exhibited at the London National Gallery. This work was also exhibited at the Louvre.
Auguste Renoir "Umbrellas", 1881-1886
7. Renoir's success in painting was overshadowed by illness. The artist fell from his bicycle in 1897 and broke right hand. He developed rheumatism, from which he suffered for the rest of his life. In 1912, Renoir suffered an attack of paralysis. Two operations did not help, the artist remained chained to wheelchair. However, he did not give up painting; he continued to paint with a brush that the nurse put between his fingers. The artist died at the age of 78 in 1919 from pneumonia.
8. Renoir’s most expensive work was the painting “Ball at the Moulin de la Galette,” which was sold at auction for $78 million.
The material uses data from the book “The Impressionists” by Diana Newall.
We wander between different judgments: there is nothing that we would like freely, unconditionally and constantly.
At the beginning of 1880, Renoir broke his right arm. He did not lament because of this. He had a happy character, he always believed that every cloud has a silver lining. In addition, he loved to try his hand at various techniques, in various painting techniques, so he decided to take advantage of the accident. In February he happily reported to Theodore Duret: “I enjoy working with my left hand. It turns out very funny and even better than that what I wrote was right. In my opinion, it was very useful for me to break my arm, it helps me improve. Pangloss was right." Renoir continued to prepare works for the next Salon. In addition to “Shell Catchers,” he was going to send there a canvas that he sketched impromptu when the model Angele, who was posing for him, dozed off during the session. The Montmartre flower girl, dark-haired Angele, led an openly dissolute lifestyle. She grew up among prostitutes, pimps and thieves and was guided by one single rule of behavior - to enjoy life. If her mother scolded Angele when she returned home in the morning with a rumpled face and circles under her eyes, it was only so that Angele understood: “It’s all exhausting!” It was so exhausting that Angele often fell asleep while posing for Renoir. The artist painted it in one of these moments, when the girl dozed off, sitting in a red chair - Angele's chest is half-naked, a gray cat is on her lap.
For several months now, another girl has been posing for Renoir, his neighbor on Rue Saint-Georges Alina Charigot, who worked in a sewing workshop. Renoir met Alina in the dairy, where he had breakfast and lunch. The good-natured dairy owner, Madame Camille, was unusually caring towards Renoir and often lamented his thinness. “It’s just pathetic to look at,” she groaned and added: “He needs to get married.” Madame Camilla had two marriageable daughters.
Alina Sharigo, like Madame Camille, was from the L'Ob department. This explained the girl's friendly relationship with the dairy owner, where she met the artist. In the fall, upon returning from Vargemont, Renoir took Alina to Chatou and depicted her in his painting "The Boatmen": Alina in a red dress sits on the grassy bank of the Seine next to Edmond, dressed in a white shirt.
Alina was the daughter of a winegrower who did not get along with his wife and, a few years before the war of 1870, suddenly left his home in Essois, a small place between Troyes and Châtillon-sur-Seine, and moved to the United States. His wife Emelie became a seamstress in Paris. Convinced that her views on life were the only correct ones, Emeli, apparently, did not have an easy character. “Bore,” Renoir politely certified her. One day she came with her daughter to the studio and, standing in front of the easel, looked at the painting she had begun with a contemptuous glance: “And this is how you make a living? Well, some people are lucky.”
Emelie, like Renoir, was about forty; Alina was supposed to turn twenty-one in May.
A well-built blonde, Alina, according to the artist, was very “cozy.” “You want to pat her on the back, like a kitten,” said the enchanted Renoir. For her part, Alina really enjoyed posing for the artist. This young peasant girl, whom the owner of the sewing workshop advised to find a “decent match” and marry “rich and not too young,” did not look at anyone except her neighbor, and he, although he met the second condition, was by no means rich , not good-looking: sunken cheeks, twitching face, sparse beard, bushy eyebrows, stooped back. Alina did not understand painting. And yet, watching Renoir wield his brushes, she experienced a surprisingly exciting feeling of the fullness of life. She had some vague, unconscious, but irresistible feeling that, being next to him, she was coming into contact with something most important, genuine, which she could not express in words, with something radically different from what what she has encountered so far. This man, who looked at her and then applied paint to a blank canvas, was sharply different from the everyday world in everything - his craft, his way of life, and the way he looked at people and surrounding objects. And the keys to this world did not fit him. Having finished writing, he lifted his legs, put them on a chair and, nervously rubbing them twice, index finger his nose - it was one of his tics - looked around the canvas, looked at the model and smiled. Smiled like happy child. “Marry a rich man...” Guided by the correct instinct characteristic of some women, and her inherent thoughtfulness, which allows her to distinguish between the ostentatious and the genuine, Alina from the very first days felt drawn to the artist. She did not understand painting, but she understood that Renoir was Renoir. This was an immutable truth for her. If Alina had to make a choice, she made it.
On April 1, a new, fifth, exhibition of impressionists opened on the mezzanine of one of the houses on Pyramid Street. But could it be called an exhibition of impressionists? Following Renoir, Sisley, Cezanne, this time the inspiration for the exhibitions, Claude Monet, broke away from the group. Of the previous participants, only Pissarro, Degas, Berthe Morisot and Caillebotte were represented on the Rue des Pyramids. But Degas looked for and attracted new artists, whom he patronized. At last year's exhibition, at his insistence, paintings by the American Mary Cassatt, Foren, and the Venetian Zandomeneghi were already shown. This year he demanded that Raffaelli be included in the exhibition, and agreed to accept quite a few works by Pissarro's friend Paul Gauguin. Monet was strongly against these candidates; their participation in the exhibition probably played a role in Monet’s determination to follow Renoir’s example and send paintings to the Salon. He presented two paintings to the jury. One was rejected, the other was accepted. It was a landscape - a view of Lavacourt, a small village in the Seine valley opposite Veteil, where the artist had lived for two years. There were general changes in Monet's life. His wife, unable to withstand the long-term need, died before reaching the age of thirty. And Ernest Hoschede’s wife, having left her husband, became the artist’s friend.
Like Renoir, Monet became close to the Charpentiers. Madame Charpentier followed with unflagging attention the successes of the artists she supported. A few months earlier, Renoir, who continued to work for her (sometimes he even painted the menus for her dinner parties), decorated the staircase of her mansion with two panels - one depicting a woman, the other a man. (About these panels, the Alsatian Enner said to Renoir: “Ochen, ohchen karacho, only a relatively small confusion: a man’s hair is thicker and darker than a woman’s!”) In April, an exhibition of Édouard Manet was organized at the La Vie Moderne gallery. in June - Claude Monet. “Frenzied advertising,” said Degas, who was indignant at Monet. He completely broke with the “apostate.”
Such pleasantries did not at all contribute to the restoration of harmony between the quarreling friends. Renoir felt that he had been treated unfriendly by ceasing to invite him to group exhibitions. In addition, he, like Monet, did not at all approve of the new participants. He never recognized either Gauguin's painting or Raffaelli's painting. About Raffaelli, someone said to Renoir: “You should have liked him, he painted the poor.” “This is what gives me doubt,” Renoir replied. – For me, there are no poor people in painting. Just like in life,” he added after a pause.
It was quite obvious that the Impressionists were experiencing a critical moment, and the same Albert Wolff was ready to read a waste book on them.
“Why does a man like Degas still associate with this bunch of mediocrities? – asked the critic of Le Figaro in the issue of April 9. – Why doesn’t he follow the example of Manet, who broke with the Impressionists long ago? He’s tired of always being dragged along by the tail of this outrageous school.”
But the critical period for the Impressionists came when Durand-Ruel began to hope to resume his purchases again. Art lover Feder, director of the General Union, a Catholic bank founded a year and a half earlier, came to the aid of the merchant by advancing him large amounts. However, the crisis of impressionism was inevitable. The development of trends in art is characterized by the same organic, inevitable patterns as the development of an individual personality at certain stages of his destiny. The groups by which these trends are represented are always a field of influence of unequal and most often contradictory forces, reflecting the passions, selfish aspirations, preconceived opinions and various, more or less pronounced tendencies of the individuals composing these groups. The balance of power is achieved only for a very short time. The need to unite in the face of a hostile environment V common searches for the sake of a common struggle unites people stronger than internal affinity. The struggle of the Impressionists did not end, but now it has changed form and acquired a more individual character. Everyone played their own game, moved their pieces. The point was not only that the interests of the players no longer coincided or even contradicted each other, but also that impressionism was subject to the universal law of life. Born from the gatherings of artists crowded into the Guerbois café around Manet, it grew, established its basic features, and then experienced a period of prosperity. But those whose enthusiasm created it, as they move forward in their own way thorny path refined their senses and perfected their craft. Impressionism, this spring of painting, was their youth. Now they have reached maturity. And in the end, at the end of their passionate joint search, they all one by one found or were acquiring their unique individuality. Just yesterday, in Argenteuil or La Grenouillere, Monet and Renoir could work side by side, following the general formulas in painting. Now this time has sunk into the past. The paths of the impressionists diverged. Like children who grew up in the same family but became adults, each of them found themselves face to face with their own problems. Spiritually connected by what once united them and made them what they became, from now on they had to remain themselves first of all, and only those of them who managed at this time or later to find their own path in painting became great artists . “Art is individual, like love,” said Vlaminck. The group was breaking up. Impressionism split open like a ripe fruit.
Zola, who did not judge painting very insightfully, but instinctively grasped the changes taking place in large groups, patterns social development(his novels were not so much psychological as sociological), he realized earlier than many other contemporaries that impressionism was nearing its decline. Soon he had the opportunity to speak on this topic, as Renoir and Monet turned to him for support. At this year's Salon, paintings were hung in accordance with new rules - based on the four categories into which the exhibitors were divided (out-of-competition, accepted in addition to the jury's decision, accepted by the jury's decision and foreigners). The works of both “defectors” were hung in the most unfavorable places. Renoir and Monet protested, as did many other artists; it was quite obvious that the organizers wanted to maintain a “monopoly on best places" for a "small select group." Renoir drew up a draft for the distribution of seats, which Murer published in La Cronique des Tribunes of May 23. But the circle of readers of this newspaper was very narrow, and both artists remembered Zola. Who, if not their old comrade from the Guerbois café, could bring to this issue public opinion? Every printed speech by Zola henceforth became a literary event. “Evenings in Medan” - a collection of stories that Charpentier published on May 1 and in which Zola appeared surrounded by his closest students - caused no less scandalous rumors than his novels. Renoir and Monet drafted a letter to the head of the department of fine arts and, through Cézanne, sent a copy to the writer so that he could publish it in Le Voltaire, where he collaborated, with his comments emphasizing “the importance of the Impressionists.”
Zola fulfilled the artists' request, but not quite as Renoir and Monet wanted. The Monet exhibition at La Vie Modern opened on June 7. Answering questions from a magazine employee, Monet strongly expressed his disagreement with those of his comrades who saw him only as an apostate... “I have remained and will forever remain an impressionist,” Monet said. “But now I very rarely meet my fellow men and women. The small temple has now turned into a banal school, the doors of which are open to the first asshole that comes along.” This inappropriate statement appeared in La Vie Moderne on June 12th. And a week later, in the issue of June 18, Le Voltaire began publishing a series of articles by Zola - there were four of them - “Naturalism in the Salon”, where the author, in his own way fulfilling the request of Renoir and Monet, raised the question of the relationship between independent art and the official Salon and impressionism.
The Impressionist group, according to Zola, “apparently has outlived its usefulness.” The paths of those who were part of it diverged. Why? Yes, because their exhibitions were built on a false basis and nothing can replace the Salon. The Impressionist exhibitions caused a lot of noise, but “it was just noise, Parisian noise that will be blown away by the wind.” Of course, people of art dream of “doing without the state, of being independent.” But, unfortunately, this freedom does not correspond to the “mores of the public.” That is why, in these conditions, “giving battle” can only be done in the Salon itself “in bright sunlight" Great courage lies in remaining on the battlefield, even in the most unfavorable conditions. Therefore, Monet, who “has been rushing around in the void for ten years now,” did the right thing by returning to the Salon, just like Renoir. The only artist who benefited from the exhibitions was Degas: his paintings, “so refined and refined,” went unnoticed “in the hustle and bustle of the Salon,” and “in an intimate setting” all their merits became apparent.
Moreover, Zola added, “that several hastily completed works by other impressionists emphasized the magnificent completeness of his work.” For the novelist from Medan, for the man who made the words “nulla dies sine linea” his motto, there was no doubt that the impressionists were to blame for the fact that they worked little, they “deserved ... attacks because they limited themselves to unfinished sketches.” Zola could not have revealed his misunderstanding of Impressionism more clearly. If he once spoke out in defense of Manet and the Batignolles, it was more for the sake of the struggle itself than out of artistic convictions. He never understood what his friends' painting was about; in fact, he was drawn to academic "completeness." This misunderstanding prevented him from understanding the meaning of the event he noticed. The collapse of the group marked the failure of impressionism for Zola, and he could not hide this conclusion. Contrary to his most friendly intentions, he seemed to sum up the collapse of the impressionist artists. Trying to evaluate their contribution to art, he spoke of their “considerable” influence, defended against common accusations of quackery “these stern and convinced observers,” these “poor people dying in hard work from poverty and fatigue.” And yet, the successful writer was convinced: he would never former comrades will not be able to assert themselves decisively and completely. “The trouble is,” he wrote, “that not one of the members of this group was able to powerfully and irrefutably embody in his work a new formula, scattered throughout many works. This formula exists, fragmented ad infinitum, but nowhere, not one of them, is it fully embodied by the hand of a master... Artists turned out to be weaker than the creations they are trying to create, they stumble and cannot find the words.” That is why, in the end, the Impressionists did not win. They are “too easily satisfied” with what they have done and “demonstrate imperfection, lack of logic, exaggeration, impotence.” "We need to create large works“, Zola argued, “and then, even if they were rejected for tens of years in a row, and then hanged in bad places for ten years in a row, they would still eventually achieve the success they deserve.” So much the worse for the weak, who are defeated and trampled by the strong! “The Impressionists did not create significant works - otherwise they would inevitably have triumphed. Isn’t this irrefutably evidenced by the success of “The Trap”, “Nana”, “Evenings in Medan”? “But it doesn’t matter,” the novelist concluded with some playful indifference, “let them better work for the glory of modern naturalism, then they will be at the head of the movement and will begin to play a noticeable role in our modern school of painting.”
The Impressionists reacted differently to Zola's claim that they had failed. But one way or another, they all realized from now on that they could no longer count on the support of the head of the naturalistic school, the one who old times spoke with such fervor in defense of independent painting. One gets it in life greater success, less to another, and this different measure of success, revealing, emphasizing what lies in the depths of everyone’s soul, what distinguishes people from each other, also plays a significant role in the process of dissociation occurring within the group.
the 14 th of July. This year, for the first time, we celebrated the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, a day that has now become national holiday. A law was passed on amnesty for convicted participants of the Commune. After numerous upheavals experienced by the Third Republic, and an attempt to restore the monarchy, which completely failed when, as a result of the 1879 Senate elections, Marshal MacMahon was forced to resign as president, the Republic strengthened. A new chapter in its history has begun for France. On the streets decorated in honor of July 14th, the first issue of the newspaper "L"Entransigean" of Rochefort, who managed to escape from New Caledonia, was sold; flags and banners fluttered in the wind in the middle of a sea of flowers. On this day, Murer, who was planning to soon leave for Auvers and take his collection, which now numbered about a hundred works, gave his friends a farewell dinner in his flag-decorated and brightly lit pastry shop. Renoir, Sisley, Guillaumin, Doctor Gachet, Cabaner were present at the dinner... From now on, Murer’s puff pastries also belonged to the past.
Money worries lost their urgency for Renoir. He wrote letters to Madame Charpentier like this: “This morning I started a portrait. I’ll start another one this evening and maybe start a third one soon.” Thus, he achieved what he was striving for. His fame as a portraitist - the author of women's and children's portraits - grew. Ephrussy even got him an order from the family of the banker Caen: Renoir was supposed to paint his daughters.
But life, like the sea, where the waves run over one another, knows no peace. New worries invaded Renoir's soul. The crisis of impressionism rebounded on the artist. Confused Renoir found himself alone with himself. Renoir was never a man of theory. His creative path was a winding line. This changeability reflected, of course, the richness of his imagination, but through the joy of creativity, his hesitations, doubts, and anxieties were also felt. And was he ever sure of anything? Now this uncertainty has worsened. She tormented, confused. In addition, it was joined by another kind of confusion - already in the realm of feelings, but no less painful.
Treasuring his bachelor habits, jealously guarding his independence, Renoir never imagined that any woman could become his lifelong friend, constantly be with him, and therefore it frightened him that young Alina Sharigo began to occupy such a large place in his thoughts .
How wonderful were the afternoons spent with Alina at La Grenouillere, where she learned to swim. How sweet are the summer evenings, when to the sounds of the piano on the terrace of Father Fournaise's restaurant dancing couples spinning in a whirlwind of a waltz...
Renoir wrote doubting himself, peering at his canvases with displeasure. What did his twenty years of work lead to, all this search, all this impressionism? What are the “theories” of the Impressionists? “You come into nature with all your theories, and nature throws them away.” Impressionists rejected the color black. And Renoir already used black in his portrait of Madame Charpentier and her children: “Black is the king of flowers!” Only plein air? But Corot said that “in nature you never know what you will get,” that the work must be “carried out through the workshop.” And there’s still the form! A form that the Impressionists too neglected. This is especially noticeable when you paint nudes. Renoir sometimes began to doubt whether he even knew how to write and draw.
Alina Sharigo... Can he write and draw... In choosing a profession, people are more or less guided by personal tastes, but if they then have to do one thing and not another, this, as a rule, is determined by everyday accidents from which destinies are woven. You have to think about making money, and the vain person has to think about showing off. This is partly what it is based on human comedy, and partly - on the play of passions. But a man like Renoir is cut from a different cloth. For him, painting is an organic, vital need. It secretes painting like a silkworm secretes its thread. Since he, like all other people, needs to buy food, clothing, pay for housing, he must try to get money for his work. But for him, money can never be the goal. It makes absolutely no difference to him whether he receives a little more or less money if he can satisfy the need that dictates all his actions. It was this need, and it alone, that determined the artist’s existence for years. The thread twisted into a cocoon. In this artless life, as if subordinated to one feeling, there is no place for a woman - a woman who would possess not only a body, but also a soul. A bachelor's position naturally suited such a life. Alina Sharigo... What confusion, what difficulties she would have brought into the simple everyday life of Renoir! And yet, these eyes, this sweet face, the peace that he experiences in her presence. How he wants her to be near, and how he is afraid of it! Her face haunts him. How he tries to avoid her proximity! “Oh, these women, it’s better to paint their portraits!” But Renoir is no longer sure whether he can write. The ground is disappearing from under his feet. His life is falling apart. “He himself doesn’t know where to go.”
Intense and tired, Renoir worked little and poorly. He started studying English language: he wanted to go to Duret, who at that time, at the beginning of 1881, lived in London. Travel, move from place to place! Since movement always leads somewhere, people hope that it will lead to the goal, to finding the lost peace. But who else if not Cezanne, the eternal wanderer, who never sat still, who traveled from Aix to Paris and back, and in Paris moved from one apartment to another, who if not Cezanne, whose pastel portrait was painted by Renoir at that time (a balding skull, the inward-looking gaze of a man gripped by one persistent dream), knew that no wanderings allow a person to escape from himself, at best, they only distract him for a while. Renoir wrote to Duret that he would come to see the “pretty English girls.” And suddenly in February, having finished the portraits of the “Caen girls” (whether they turned out well or not, he himself did not know) and leaving Efrussi with the trouble of sending them to the Salon (“one less thing to worry about”), he left for the country that in his time enchanted Delacroix and which Lestrenget told him about more than once - to Algeria.
Unfortunately, when he arrived in Algeria in early March, the weather there was cloudy. It was raining. “And yet it’s magnificent here, the nature is incredibly rich... And the greenery is lush and fresh! “The new vegetation for him - palm trees, orange trees and fig trees - delighted Renoir, and the Arabs in their white wool burnouses often amazed with their nobility of posture.
Finally the sun came out. The city, in which “everything is white: burnuses, walls, minarets and the road,” sparkled under a cloudless sky. Delighted by the spectacle before him, Renoir began to work again. He pulled himself together and tried to comprehend his work. “I decided to stay away from the artists, in the sun, in order to think calmly,” he soon wrote to Durand-Ruel, and from his tone one can feel that his soul became calmer. “I think I’ve reached the end and found it.” I may be wrong, but it would surprise me very much.”
Durand-Ruel, who sent Renoir a letter, tried to dissuade him from participating in the Salon. Now that the merchant had money and could once again actively defend the Impressionists, he considered it highly desirable for the group to regain some semblance of agreement. Even at that time, when Renoir was hesitating, not knowing where to go - to England or Algeria, Caillebotte and Pissarro discussed the issue of the sixth exhibition of the Impressionists, which was supposed to open in April. Caillebotte accused Degas of causing “a split in the group.” Due to the fact that Degas did not take the “prominent place” that was due to him, “this man became embittered... he is angry with the whole world,” Caillebotte wrote to Pissarro. “He almost has a persecution mania.” Isn’t he trying to convince others that Renoir has Machiavellian plans?.. One could compile a whole volume from what he said about Manet, Monet, about you... He went so far as to say to me about Monet and Renoir: “Do you really accept do you have these people?" Caillebotte was ready to believe that Degas did not forgive Renoir, Monet and Sisley for their talent, because he showed much more condescension towards those who were not very talented or simply untalented and whom he “dragged behind "By forcing the works of his wards, like Zandomeneghi and Raffaelli, to be accepted into the exhibitions of the Impressionists, he distorted the nature of these exhibitions. In order for the exhibition to be homogeneous, Caillebotte believed that Renoir, Monet, Cezanne, Sisley - all those who were in it - should participate in it. in fact, linked his fate with impressionism, and only they alone must give in, otherwise he will have to do without him.
But Pissarro could not decide to “abandon” Degas. Renoir replied to Durand-Ruel that he personally would continue to send paintings to the Salon. “I am not going to succumb to the manic belief that a painting becomes worse or better depending on where it is exhibited. In other words, I'm not going to waste my time getting offended at Salon. I don’t even want to show that I’m offended.” The end result was that there was one less impressionist at the April exhibition: Caillebotte refused to participate in it.
Renoir, completely fascinated by Algeria, decided to stay longer - at first he was going to stay there for a month. “I don’t want to leave Algeria without bringing something from this wonderful country.” He set up an easel in the area of the Kasbah, Jardin d'Esse or in their environs. He wrote “Arabian Holiday”, “Banana Plantations”... Amazing light Mediterranean! “The sorcerer-sun turns palm trees into gold, waves roll diamonds, and people become like magicians.” Renoir returned to France only in the first half of April. However, he did not intend to stay too long in Paris, but wanted to soon go to London, where Duret was waiting for him. “After the Algerian heat, the sophistication of England will be more noticeable.”
However, already on April 18, Renoir wrote from Chatou to Théodore Duret that he would not go to London. In Chatou, Renoir met Whistler, who had come to France for a short time from London. Whistler will personally explain to Duret “a thousand reasons” why Renoir should postpone his journey. “I am fighting with trees and flowers, with women and children, and I don’t want to know anything else. However, every minute I am tormented by remorse. I think about the fact that I have unnecessarily troubled you, and I ask myself whether it will be easy for you to come to terms with my whims... It’s an unfortunate fate to always hesitate, but this is the essence of my character, and I’m afraid it will not change over the years. The weather is beautiful and I have models - that’s my only excuse.”
On these sunny Easter days, Father Fournaise's restaurant was crowded. Renoir painted rowers finishing their breakfast here. A former cavalry officer, a participant in the Cochin campaign and for a short time the mayor of Saigon, Baron Barbier (this perky, merry fellow of about forty years old tirelessly lived his life and almost completely squandered it) offered to help Renoir realize his plan. But the idea was not so simple: in order to paint a picture, Renoir had to gather at least fourteen people on the terrace of a restaurant on the banks of the Seine, along which sailboats were gliding. This picture, despite Sunday festive atmosphere, which emanates from it, is somewhat reminiscent of the large multi-figure compositions loved by Fantin-Latour, and before by Frans Hals. And although Renoir’s work was devoid of the pompousness or, at least, some ostentation inherent in these compositions, in essence, it echoed them. The painting "The Luncheon of the Rowers", in which he depicted many of his friends, regulars of Father Fournaise - Caillebotte and Ephrussy, Barbier, Lot and Lestreng, his model Angele (who from now on could no longer pose for him because she was getting married) and Alphonsine Fournaise - Renoir, although he himself probably did not yet understand it, was saying goodbye to his past, to the long years that he spent on the banks of the Seine and in Le Moulin de la Galette among its dancers. This brilliant canvas, a large “anthological” work, ends the period of impressionism of balls and restaurants, breakfasts on the grass and green pavilions. From now on, Renoir will return to these themes only as an exception. An entire period was coming to an end. The period of Renoir's creativity and the period of his life.
In the foreground of the painting “The Rowers’ Breakfast,” a charming young woman in a hat decorated with flowers sits at the table opposite Caillebotte with her small dog. This woman is Alina Sharigo.
Alina was much less happy than you might think looking at the picture painted in Shatu. It seemed to her that she had found a wonderful way to solve the problems that tormented Renoir - that’s what she called him at that time, and subsequently. The issues of painting that worried the artist (the joyful upsurge caused by his stay in Algeria quickly ended) were not so serious in the girl’s eyes. Renoir, she reasoned, “was created to write, just as a vineyard was created to produce wine. Therefore, whether good or bad, with or without success, he must paint.” On the other hand, the Parisian environment and the inevitable communication with other artists in the capital only aggravate his confusion. And Alina decided: why don’t they go together to the village of Essua? There he “will be able to write his sketches, and the winegrowers busy with their work, who have no time to talk about the fate of painting, will not be a hindrance to him.” But alas, such a decision seduced Renoir no more than it seduced Madame Charigot’s mother... “You have to be damn strong to doom yourself to loneliness,” said the artist, avoiding Alina’s proposal. Alina now almost never left the sewing workshop. Renoir decided to spend the summer in Vargemont.
He walked to Pourville, Varengeville and Dieppe. In Dieppe, Dr. Blanche's son, Jacques-Emile, who was engaged in painting, was deeply upset by the way his mother received Renoir. Madame Blanche first invited the artist to work in Dieppe, and then “began to make every effort to cancel the invitation.” She considered him “completely insane both in painting and in conversation and at the same time completely uneducated... despising everything sensible, not afraid of rain or slush...”. She was irritated by both his tic and the fact that he sat at the table for a long time. On the evening of his first visit, Renoir wrote “sunset in ten minutes. This outraged my mother, said Jacques-Emile, and she told him that he was only “translating the colors!” “ It’s lucky that she attacked a man who doesn’t notice anything! »
And this summer Renoir undoubtedly noticed even less than always.
“When you look at the works of great artists of the past, you understand that there is no need to philosophize. What excellent masters of their craft these people were in the first place! How they knew their craft! This is it all. Painting is not some kind of dream... Really, artists consider themselves exceptional creatures, they imagine that, having put blue paint instead of black, they will turn the world upside down.”
Autumn. Alina. Secrets and perfection of the old masters. She will try to forget him. He will try to forget her. A form to which the Impressionists attached too little importance. He must paint a pastel portrait of Jane, Madame Charpentier's youngest daughter. One of the next days he is invited to dinner with Madame Charpentier. And a love that does not want to die has penetrated deeply into his soul. One day, while still a teenager, while working in a porcelain factory, he saw a “small, furious man” painting. “It was Ingres. He held a notebook in his hand, he made a sketch, threw it away, started a new one, and in the end, in one step, he made such a perfect drawing, as if he had been working on it for a week.” Love sprinkled his soul like dew. The love he wants to protect himself from. Ingres with his amazingly precise line. And suddenly Renoir left Paris for Italy. “I was suddenly inspired to see Raphael,” he wrote from Venice to Madame Charpentier.
At that time, the Italians were not very friendly towards the French, who signed the Treaty of Bordeaux in May, establishing their protectorate over Tunisia. But Renoir had little interest in Italians. He was not interested in either the cities or architectural monuments of Italy. He quickly grew tired of Milan and Padua, as did Florence after a while. Milan Cathedral “with its lacy marble roof, of which the Italians are so proud”? Renoir shrugged: “Nonsense!” Moreover, all these cities seemed unusually dull to him. And yet Venice was too lively and colorful for him to remain indifferent to it. “What a miracle the Doge's Palace is! This white and pink marble was probably a little cold at first. But I saw it after the sun had gilded it for several centuries in a row, and what a charm it is!”
Renoir again opened his box of paints and painted the palace as seen from the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. He also painted St. Mark's Cathedral and gondolas on the Grand Canal. The paintings of Tiepolo and Carpaccio were a joyful discovery for him. However, he soon went south, because he came to Italy to see Raphael. In Florence (“There are not many places in the world where I would be so bored. Seeing all these black and white buildings, it seemed to me that there was a chessboard in front of me!”) he could study Raphael’s first painting, “Madonna in an Armchair” from the palace Pitti. This painting was so famous that Renoir, in his own words, went to look at it “for fun.” “And then I saw such a free, so confident, such a wonderfully simple and full-blooded painting that it is impossible to imagine anything better: arms, legs - all living flesh, and what a touching expression of maternal tenderness!”
Arriving in Rome, Renoir did not become interested in the city and ran to see Raphael. The creations of the author of “Madonna in the Armchair” - the Vatican dances and the Farnesina frescoes - deeply touched him. “This is wonderful, and I should have seen it earlier,” Renoir noted, not without sadness. – It is full of knowledge and wisdom. Raphael did not strive, like me, for the impossible. But it's great. In oil painting I prefer Ingres. But the frescoes are magnificent in their simplicity and grandeur.”
When Renoir wrote these words to Durand-Ruel in November, he was already in Naples, where the art of Pompeii was revealed to him. "These priestesses in their silver-gray tunics are just the spitting image of Koro's nymphs." After the shock of meeting Raphael, the stunning impression of the Pompeii frescoes further aggravated the artist's confusion. Using a range of colors reduced to primary colors, the authors of ancient frescoes, who had impeccable mastery of the secrets of their craft, created incomparable works. “And one feels that they were not at all trying to sit through a masterpiece. Some merchant or courtesan commissioned an artist to paint his house, and he tried to revive the smooth wall - that’s all. No geniuses! No emotional worries!... Nowadays, we are all geniuses, let’s say, but one thing is certain - we no longer know how to draw a hand and do not know the basics of our craft.”
Renoir painted with passionate persistence, erasing what he had written and re-covering the canvas, dissatisfied with himself, in the grip of what he called “the disease of quest.” "I am like school student. A blank page must be filled out without any marks - and on you! - blot. “I still plant blots, although I am already forty years old,” he admitted to Durand-Ruel, asking in advance to forgive him if he did not bring many works from the trip. The journey ultimately brought him very relative satisfaction. “I continue to travel, just so that I don’t have to come back to this anymore,” he told Dedon. At the hotel where Renoir lived as a boarding house, almost all of his dining companions were priests, and one of them, a native of Calabria, advised Renoir to go to this area. Renoir made a short excursion there, and Calabria delighted him. “I have seen miracles... If I ever travel again, I will come back here.” However, the longing for Paris engulfed him more and more deeply. “I dream of my native land, and, in my opinion, the ugliest Parisian woman is better than the most beautiful Italian woman.”
Returning to Naples, Renoir painted still lifes and “figures,” “and this,” he said, “makes me waste a lot of time: I have as many models as I like, but as soon as any one of them sits on a chair, turns three-quarters of a turn and folds hands on my knees - and I’m sick of watching.”
A little angrier, Renoir settled in Capri. He was the only Frenchman on the island. The “magnificent” weather, the immaculate blue sea, the orange and olive trees, the flowers, the wines flavored with the sulfur of Vesuvius, and the frutti di mare soup improved his mood somewhat. On Capri he created one of his best Italian paintings - “The Blonde Bather”, which he painted in a boat in a sun-drenched bay. In this work one can already feel noticeable changes in texture, the triumph of lines and volume, everything that was supposed to lead to the period of turning point - painful, like any withdrawal - that Renoir was experiencing at this time. A girl with pearlescent skin, more reminiscent of a Scandinavian than a Neapolitan, exposes her immaculate body to the light, emphasizing its strong contours. How far Renoir is now from the tremulous flickering of impressionism! The lessons of Raphael and the frescoes of Pompeii and the more ancient lessons of Ingres are beginning to bear fruit. “I like painting,” the artist would later say, “when it looks eternal.” These words almost completely echo the words of Cezanne: “I wanted to turn impressionism into something solid and lasting, like museum art.” Both artists, emerging from impressionism, strove, each with their own means, towards the same goal that lay beyond its boundaries.
From an issue of Le Petit Magazine, which accidentally came to Capri, Renoir learned that on November 14 in France, Gambetta formed a government and appointed Manet's friend, Antonin Proust, as Minister of Fine Arts. By order of Proust, three paintings were purchased for the Louvre at the sale of works by Courbet at the Drouot Hotel, including “Man with a Leather Belt.” According to Duret, this purchase was a kind of “public repentance, a tribute to the memory of Courbet.” Renoir was very happy about this. He rightly believed that Proust would not hesitate to present the Legion of Honor to Manet - this would be another “public repentance.” This is what he wrote to his older brother in art: “Finally, we have a minister who realizes that painting exists in France... I hope that upon returning to the capital I will be able to greet you as a beloved and officially recognized artist. “You,” Renoir added, “are a cheerful fighter, not hating anyone, like an ancient Gaul, and it is for this cheerfulness, which does not leave you, even when you are treated unfairly, that I love you.” It has been a year since the state ceased to exercise guardianship over art. From now on, the artists themselves had to organize exhibitions at the Salon, but this did not weaken the spirit of academicism that permeated them. But still, this year Manet was among those whose paintings were accepted “out of competition.” His struggle was coming to an end, but so was his life - alas! – too, because Manet was terminally ill.
Renoir hoped to return to France on January 15. But a letter from one of the most famous Wagnerians, Jules de Breuer, forced him to postpone his departure. From November 5, Richard Wagner lived in Palermo, where he finished Parsifal. Breuer and other Wagnerians wanted Renoir to paint a portrait of the composer. In a rather gloomy mood, the artist set off by sea to Sicily. “At least fifteen hours of seasickness ahead,” he grumbled.
Arriving in Palermo, he boarded the first hotel omnibus he came across, which took him to the Hotel de France. From there, Renoir went in search of the composer. Eventually he learned that he was staying at the Hotel des Palmes. That same evening, Renoir came to Wagner. He was met by a sullen servant who disappeared somewhere and, returning after a short absence, announced that they could not receive him. The next morning, Renoir, beginning to lose patience, again appeared at the Hotel de Palms. He had only one desire: to return to Naples as soon as possible. But then a young blond man came out, looking like an Englishman. In fact it was German artist Paul von Jukowsky. Yukowski explained to Renoir that it was today – it was January 13, 1882 – that Wagner was finishing the last bars of his “Parsifal”, that he was in an extremely “painful and nervous state, stopped eating, etc.” Yukowski asked the artist to postpone his departure for a day. Renoir agreed, the date was scheduled for tomorrow. The next day at five o'clock Wagner finally received the artist.
“I heard the sound of footsteps, muffled by the thick carpet. It was a maestro in a velvet suit with large black satin cuffs. He was very handsome and very kind, extended his hand to me, sat me down in a chair, and then a most absurd conversation began, interspersed with endless “oh!” and “ah!”, in a mixture of French and German and with guttural endings. “I’m very pleased - ah!” O! (guttural sound) - you came from Paris? - “No, I came from Naples...” We talked about everything. I said “we,” but I just repeated “dear maestro,” “of course, dear maestro,” and got up, about to leave, but he took me by the hands and put me back in the chair. We talked about the production of Tannhäuser at the Paris Opera, in short, it lasted at least three quarters of an hour... Then we talked about impressionism in music. What nonsense I said! By the end I was all sweaty, drunk and as red as a lobster. In short, when a shy person gets wild, you can't stop him. And yet, I don’t know how to explain it, but I felt that he was pleased with me. He can't stand German Jews, including Wolf... I blasted Meyerbeer. In short, I had time to say a lot of stupid things. And suddenly he said, turning to Mr. Yukowski: “If tomorrow at noon I feel good, I can pose for you before lunch.” You'll have to be lenient - I'll do what I can, but don't be angry with me if I can't stand it. Mr. Renoir, ask Mr. Yukowski if he would not object to you also painting my portrait, if, of course, this does not interfere with him...”
On January 15 at noon, Renoir stood in front of Wagner with his brushes. The session really turned out to be as short as possible. Wagner spent only thirty-five minutes with the artist. In these thirty-five minutes, Renoir painted a portrait of the composer. "ABOUT! - Wagner exclaimed, looking at the canvas. “I look like a Protestant pastor!”
On January 22, Renoir received five hundred francs from Durand-Ruel at the post office in Marseille. Back on January 17, from Naples, he asked the merchant to send him this money on demand so that he could get to Paris. But during this time, Renoir's plans changed. He met with Cézanne, and since at that time it was almost spring weather in Provence, Renoir decided to stay for two weeks with his friend in Estac, near Marseille - in “a small place like Asnières, but on the seashore,” he explained to Durand -Ruel.
Cezanne, who had a house in Estac, often came here and painted among the rocky peaks and pines the olive trees on the Nert mountain ridge or the bay, which was bordered in the distance by the hills of Marseilles Verde. The artist from Aix was not a very sociable companion. Failures made him withdrawn. But just in the first weeks of 1882, he expected that his old dream was about to come true and he would be exhibited at the nearest Salon. Cezanne's acquaintance Guillemet, an artist of the most ordinary talent, who was a member of the jury, promised him to use his right of “mercy” so that Cezanne would be allowed into the Palace of Industry. The situation is ridiculous, almost grotesque, but Cezanne rejoiced at it like a child and therefore received Renoir especially cordially. And the questions that both artists asked during this period of their work, their similar doubts at this time also greatly contributed to their rapprochement despite everything that separated them and so distinguished them from each other. In comparison with the life of Cezanne, with this harsh, ascetic existence, stubbornly striving for the glacial heights of unattainable perfection and overshadowed by melancholy and oppressive uncertainty, the life of Renoir, even in this period of crisis, seemed easy and joyful. A real rose garden. “I have the sun here all the time, and I can erase what I’ve written and start again to my heart’s content...” Renoir wrote to Madame Charpentier, informing her that he was postponing his return to Paris. “And so I spend time in the sun, but not to paint portraits in sunlight, but simply to bask and try to look as much as possible, hoping in this way to achieve the greatness and simplicity of the old masters.”
With whom, if not Cezanne, could Renoir discuss so enthusiastically what he saw and learned during his trip to Italy? This, undoubtedly, was one of the reasons that prompted him to stay in Estac. But there was probably another, more hidden, but undoubtedly deeper than the first. Was Renoir trying to delay the moment when he would meet Alina again and the pros and cons would fight within him with renewed vigor? A trip to Italy did not resolve his doubts. Renoir failed to forget the one who chose him.
The stay in Estac ended rather disastrously. In early February, the flu, a “cruel” flu, put the artist to bed. From this moment on, the “country sea urchins", as Cézanne called her, had lost most of its charm in Renoir's eyes, and now he impatiently dreamed of returning to Paris. But this did not happen soon enough. The flu turned into pneumonia. Edmond rushed to his sick brother, near whom Cezanne was fussing with tender solicitude. “He was ready to drag his entire house to my bed,” said a moved Renoir. On the 19th the doctor declared that the patient was “out of danger,” but still he still took almost no food.
Meanwhile, letters arrived, which Renoir, exhausted by illness, read with great irritation. He tore and raged against the Kaen family. “As for one and a half hundred francs from the Caens,” he wrote to Dedon, “let me note that this is simply unheard of. I have never met worse hoarders. I will definitely not deal with Jews anymore.” On the other hand, Durand-Ruel asked, even insisted - and this especially annoyed Renoir - that he take part in the upcoming, seventh, exhibition of the Impressionists, about which Caillebotte had already written to him.
Two or three months earlier, Caillebotte, undisturbed by the previous failure, again took steps to organize the homogeneous exhibition of which he had so dreamed, hoping this time to persuade Degas. But Degas only got angry. And we had to start all over again, because Pissarro, like the year before, was clearly not in the mood to break with Degas. But Gauguin, who shared Caillebotte’s point of view, announced to Pissarro that he, for his part, would refuse to participate in the exhibition, since Degas did not want to give in, and that Guillaumin would undoubtedly do the same. Thus, Pissarro found himself almost in all alone with Degas and his friends. He had no choice but to give Caillebotte’s consent. But Caillebotte was wrong if he assumed that everything would now go swimmingly. They asked Monet for prior consent, but he refused. Sisley said he would follow Monet's example. Renoir referred to the fact that he was ill. Berthe Morisot “abstained.” Cézanne, warned by Pissarro, declared that “he has nothing.”
Unpleasantly surprised, Caillebotte was already asking himself, not without bitterness, whether he would have to abandon his plans when Durand-Ruel unexpectedly intervened in the negotiations, whose affairs took the darkest turn within a few days: at the end of January, the General Union bank collapsed, Feder was arrested.
For Durand-Ruel, the collapse of the Catholic Bank had the most dramatic consequences. The merchant again had to rely only on his own funds. In addition, he was burdened with a huge liability, he was obliged to repay the advances issued by Feder as quickly as possible. With his financial situation worse than ever, Durand-Ruel, in his own words, had to “make money out of everything” and fight even more vigorously to avoid death. And since he threw in his lot with the Impressionists, it means they must win. Let them stop their bickering for a while. From now on, Durand-Ruel himself will take over the organization of their exhibition, which will open in the halls of the Reichshofen Panorama at 251 rue Saint-Honoré.
Renoir, slowly recovering from pneumonia, opposed what he called the “Pissarro-Gauguin combination.” While still lying in bed, on February 24, he dictated a letter to Edmond addressed to Durand-Ruel, in which he formally refused to participate in the exhibition. The dealer approached him with a new request: he wanted to exhibit those paintings by Renoir that belonged to him. “The paintings that you bought from me are your property,” Renoir answered him in a telegram sent on the morning of February 26, “I cannot prevent you from disposing of them, but it is not me who is exhibiting them.” That same day, still lying in bed, he hastily drafted a letter, dictated another, and sent both through Edmond.
“Exhibiting with Pissarro, Gauguin and Guillaumin is the same as exhibiting with some social group... The public doesn’t like it when things smell of politics, and at my age I don’t want to be a revolutionary. Staying with the Israeli Pissarro is a revolution. Moreover, these gentlemen know that I took a step forward thanks to the Salon. So they need to quickly deprive me of what I have achieved. They make every effort to do this, and when I slip, they give up on me. I don't want this, I don't want this. Get rid of these people and give me artists like Manet, Sisley, Morisot, etc., and I am yours, because this is no longer politics, but pure art… So I refuse and refuse again. But you can exhibit my paintings, which belong to you, without my permission. They are yours, and I will not exercise my right to prevent you from disposing of them at your discretion, if it is yours. own name. Let’s just firmly agree that the paintings signed by me are being exhibited by you, their owner, and not me. Under this condition, in the catalogue, on posters, in prospectuses, it will be said everywhere that my canvases are the property of the namesake... and exhibited by Durand-Ruel. Thus, I will not find myself “independent” against my will... You should not be offended by my refusal, because it is not directed at all against you, but only against these gentlemen, with whom I do not want to act for my own good, for reasons of taste and in your own interests."
Finally, on the eve of the opening day, Renoir sent Durand-Ruel a calmer letter, in which he expressed his consent to participate in the exhibition, but did not fail to emphasize:
“I ask you to tell these gentlemen that I am not going to give up the Salon... I hope they will forgive me this little weakness. If I exhibit with Guillaumin, I can exhibit with Carolus-Durand..."
In May, a portrait by Renoir was to be exhibited at the Salon.
By the will of the merchant, the composition of the group changed. The old members eventually gave in more or less readily.
In fact, the group as such has now become a historical concept. And yet, never before has it appeared before the public so monolithically, as if, in fact, despite the deepening divergences and mutual dissatisfaction, the Impressionists, before finally breaking up, wanted to demonstrate their unity - the unity in which the public would perceive them in the future. Almost all the extras are gone. Only nine artists were represented in the rooms on Rue Saint-Honoré. However, except for the two absentees, Degas and Cezanne, all those who truly created impressionism, those to whom it owes its significance, who ensured its long and fruitful life, found themselves shoulder to shoulder at this seventh exhibition, which was received calmly and even favorably by critics . (“Durand-Ruel must have worked the press,” wrote Eugene Manet.) Renoir, Monet, Sisley, Pissarro, Berthe Morisot and the benefactor of the group, Caillebotte, coexisted here with three of Pissarro’s friends: Victor Vignon, Guillaumin and Gauguin - the same Gauguin, which Renoir and Monet did not like so much. But Gauguin’s participation in this exhibition now, with the passage of time, acquires in our eyes, in the eyes of descendants, especially deep meaning, because it anticipates the future, what was to be born tomorrow from impressionism, those victories, darings that without impressionism and its ungrateful father Manet, without the deep revolution that they caused, would have been impossible.
Among the two hundred works presented at the exhibition, Durand-Ruel showed twenty-five paintings by Renoir, and among them “The Luncheon of the Rowers.” The artist was very concerned about the impression his canvases made. He also slightly regretted the excessive harshness that he showed in his correspondence with Durand-Ruel, and feared that he had not behaved “prudently” enough. Moreover, he was in a hurry to return to Paris, where, after he had “learned a lot,” he had “a lot to do,” he wrote to Georges Rivière. But the doctor resolutely opposed his return and advised him to at least stay in the south for at least two more weeks and get some treatment. Since Cézanne, who could not find a place for himself because of the upcoming Salon, was planning to leave Estac for Paris on March 3-4, Renoir decided to return to Algeria. Lot, who came to Estac for him, was supposed to accompany him. And in Algeria Corday and Lestreng were waiting for them.
Renoir viewed this new trip simply as an annoying “delay.” He only hoped that the company of friends would brighten her up. And he also wanted to use it so that, as soon as he regained some strength, he could start writing. Last time he brought only landscapes from Algeria, this time he decided to satisfy Durand-Ruel's desire and paint several portraits. As soon as Renoir settled in Algiers at 30 rue la Marine, he began looking for models. “And this is so difficult,” he wrote to the merchant, “the whole point is who will outwit whom... I saw here children of unheard of colorfulness. Will you be able to get them? I will do everything in my power for this... You probably think I’m obnoxious,” he added, “but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get a sitter even in Algeria.” Simply unbearable. If only you knew how many bad artists there are. The English in particular spoil the few women you could count on. But still, I hope to bring you something. It is so beautiful".
By the end of March, the artist, who had completely recovered from his illness, was already working enthusiastically. So enthusiastic that at the beginning of April he postponed his return to France for at least a month. The fiery sun of Africa conquered him. Indeed, what magic! One day, when Renoir was working with Lot in an Algerian village, friends suddenly saw in the distance a “fairy-tale figure” of a man whose clothes sparkled like precious stones. When the man came closer, it turned out to be a beggar in rags... Renoir painted the young Arab Ali, Algerian women, a porter from Biskra... He also painted a Frenchwoman in an Algerian costume, and one glance at this picture with its deliberate exoticism is enough to convince you how much Renoir is ultimately remained indifferent and insensitive to what was alien to the spirit of his race. “Why go to all these your eastern countries? Don't you have your own country? “- Courbet, a native of Franche-Comté, once wrote.
Several weeks spent in Algeria restored Renoir's strength, and in May he left for France. Six or seven months have passed since he left Paris. But the journey resolved nothing—nothing. Paintings by Raphael, frescoes of Pompeii, conversations with Cezanne only strengthened the artist’s conviction that he still had a lot to learn. No, the trip did not solve anything. Except for one doubt: Renoir wrote to Alina Charigot that he would be happy if she came to meet him at the train station in Paris.
Auguste Renoir "The Luncheon of the Rowers"
The painting “The Breakfast of the Rowers” was painted in 1880-1881. Canvas, oil. 130 × 173 cm. Currently located in the Phillips Collection Museum in Washington.
The plot of the film was inspired by a popular holiday destination in Paris.
The restaurant "Maison Fournaise" in the city of Chatou (near Paris) overlooking the Seine River was a favorite place among people of all ages. social status. As depicted in "The Rowers' Breakfast", businessmen, socialites, seamstresses and artists were frequent customers of this restaurant. Renoir also loved this place very much and depicted many of his acquaintances there.
The Fournaise restaurant closed in 1906. But, almost a century later, in 1990, it was completely restored, after which the restaurant regained its former popularity. In addition, the Maison de Fournaise now boasts a museum and artists' studio with impressionist reproductions.
The painting shows real people, friends of Renoir, whom he immortalized in one of his excellent paintings.
On the left, sitting at the table in a hat with flowers is Alina Sharigo (1859-1915), who was originally Renoir’s model and later became his wife. Opposite in a white T-shirt and yellow hat is famous artist and the collector of Impressionist paintings Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894). Behind Alina Sharigo is the son of the owner of the restaurant where the meeting of friends is taking place, who was responsible for renting boats - Alphonse Fournaise. Next, with his back to the viewer is Raoul Bardier - baron, war hero and ex-mayor of Saigon. The lady in the yellow hat, leaning her elbow on the railing, is the daughter of the restaurant owner Alfonsine Fournes. The Lady Who Drinks from a Glass - actress, model of Renoir, Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas - Ellen Andre (1857-1925). In the far left corner, two men are talking - the poet and critic Jules Laforgue (1860-1887) and a man in a top hat, Charles Ephrussi, who was a collector and publisher, in particular publishing the Gazette des Beaux-Arts. In the far right corner there is a trio: Renoir's actress and model Jeanne Samary (1857-1890), opposite Renoir's friend, Interior Ministry employee Pierre Lestrengé, and Renoir's friend, journalist and writer Paul Lot in the middle. The lady in the blue dress is model, actress and singer Angele Legault. Next to Angele is the Italian journalist Antonio Maggiolo.
