Pierre-Auguste Renoir at the Museum Barberini

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | The Pear Tree, 1877

In the early 1860s Pierre-Auguste Renoir had studied in the Paris atelier of Swiss history painter Charles Gleyre.

Together with his fellow pupils Frédéric Bazille, Claude Monet and Alfred Sisley, he belonged to the nucleus of the group that would become known as Impressionists in the mid-1870s.

Renoir’s early experiments with painting in the open air were decisive for the development of his visual language. In a departure from traditional methods, he worked en plein air not merely for studies, but also, like Monet, in order to create independent, finished works.

Childe Hassam | Geraniums, 1888-1889

From: Christie's

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Following a successful career in Boston, in 1886 the celebrated American Impressionist Childe Hassam (1859-1935) journeyed to Paris with his wife Maud where he would remain until 1889.

During this time in the summer months, the Hassams visited the country home of German businessman Ernest Blumenthal and his wife, who was friends with Mrs. Hassam, in Villiers-Le-Bel, a small town ten miles northeast of Paris in the Val d’Oise.

Camille Pissarro at the Museum Barberini

Camille Pissarro | Boulevard Montmartre, Twilight, 1897

In a series of fourteen paintings Camille Pissarro focused on the Boulevard Montmartre in the center of Paris.

From his room in the Grand Hôtel de Russie, with the opera building behind him, he had a view of the busy street on which twenty thousand carriages rattled by every day, past the expensive shops and the popular Café Tortoni.

This picture shows the boulevard with fresh green trees in springtime. | Source: © Museum Barberini

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Champ de bananiers, 1881

Starting in 1881 the art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel regularly bought paintings from Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

The painter then undertook all the trips he had previously been unable to afford and which would complete his artistic training.

His first trip took him to Algeria, in the footsteps of Delacroix whom he admired. Renoir's visual experience there was as intense as it had been for the older artist.

Seduced by the colours and the "incredible wealth" of nature here, he produced several pure landscapes, quite rare in his oeuvre. This field of banana trees is in the Essai garden in Hamma, created in 1832 in Algiers.

Thomas Dewing | Lady in Yellow, 1888

Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851-1938) created a striking contrast between the precisely modeled face and arms, and the very free, feathery brushstrokes of the dress.

The painting was exhibited in 1888 at the Boston Art Club, where it was purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner with the help of Dennis Miller Bunker.

The painting was then exhibited to considerable acclaim at the National Academy of Design and at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1889.

Stanford White designed the frame, which is original to the painting. Mrs. Gardner hung the painting in the Yellow Room, a setting perfectly attuned to the hue of the woman’s dress. | Source: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Thomas Wilmer Dewing | Lady in Yellow, 1888 | Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Alfred Sisley at the Museum Barberini

Located in Potsdam’s historic center (Germany), the Museum Barberini is an art museum that was initiated by Hasso Plattner, the founder of the German software company SAP and a patron of the arts.

Since its opening in 2017, the Barberini has established itself as one of the most popular museums in Germany with international exhibitions and an extraordinary collection of Impressionist paintings.

From Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Rembrandt van Rijn, and Gerhard Richter to ancient sculpture, French Impressionism and Baroque painting, the Museum Barberini embraces all styles and eras, and aims to continually offer new perspectives on art.

Alfred Sisley | Near Moret-sur-Loing, 1881 | Museum Barberini

In 1882 Alfred Sisley moved to Moret-sur-Loing, a town to the south of Paris, where he explored the landscape that was crisscrossed by rivers and canals.

The wooden construction in the foreground likely belongs to one of the boatyards that dotted the Loing Canal, which was used for industrial purposes.

The detail of this construction adds a modern element to the timeless scenery.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Terrace at Cagnes, 1905

Suffering from severe rheumatism late in life, Renoir often visited Cagnes, a town in southern France. He rented an apartment in the Maison de La Poste (post office building) and lived there from 1903 to 1907.

We see that building on the right side of this painting. Renoir could view the streets of Cagnes and its orchards from a window in his apartment.

This painting presents, in limpid brushwork, the houses and orchards arranged stepwise on the hill.

The woman seated on the wall is wearing a white hat and a red jacket.

Beside her is a child in a straw hat. | Source: © Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Terrace at Cagnes, 1905 | Bridgestone Museum of Art

Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Lise - La femme a l'ombrelle, 1867

Lise, also known as Lise - La femme à l'ombrelle, or Lise with a Parasol, is an oil-on-canvas painting by the French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, created in 1867 during his early Salon period.

The full-length painting depicts model Lise Tréhot posing in a forest.

She wears a white muslin dress and holds a black lace parasol to shade her from the sunlight, which filters down through the leaves, contrasting her face in the shadow and her body in the light, highlighting her dress rather than her face.