1892 (ca.), Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Reclining Nude -- Norton Simon Museum (Pasadena)
From the museum label: The female nude was Renoir's most enduring subject; he painted several hundred over the course of his career. His late nudes indicate the artist's drastic departure from his youthful Impressionist agenda, his increasing devotion to classical tradition, his retreat into a private Arcadian world. This graceful example takes its place in a tradition that aligns the female body with the ideal landscape and the cycles of nature. The contours of the nude rhyme with those of the hillside. A glimmering patch of blue suggests the sea far below.
1892 (ca.), Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Reclining Nude -- Norton Simon Museum (Pasadena)
From the museum label: The female nude was Renoir's most enduring subject; he painted several hundred over the course of his career. His late nudes indicate the artist's drastic departure from his youthful Impressionist agenda, his increasing devotion to classical tradition, his retreat into a private Arcadian world. This graceful example takes its place in a tradition that aligns the female body with the ideal landscape and the cycles of nature. The contours of the nude rhyme with those of the hillside. A glimmering patch of blue suggests the sea far below.