Still Life with Peaches
1881
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
21 x 25 1/2 in. (53.3 x 64.8 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 1960
Accession Number
61.101.12
Tags
Art Historical Context
Auguste Renoir's *Still Life with Peaches (1881), an oil on canvas measuring 21 x 25½ inches, exemplifies the Impressionist master's fascination with everyday beauty and the play of light. Painted during the height of the Impressionist movement in France, this work captures a simple arrangement of ripe peaches, their soft fuzz and glistening surfaces rendered with Renoir's signature loose, vibrant brushstrokes. As a still life, it showcases his ability to infuse ordinary objects with sensuous vitality, a departure from the academic rigor of earlier traditions. Renoir, a key figure in Impressi...
About the Artist
Auguste Renoir · 1841–1919
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919), born in Limoges to a modest tailor's family, displayed prodigious talent early on, apprenticed at age thirteen to the Lévy Frères porcelain factory in Paris after his family relocated there in 1845. There, he decorated fine china with floral designs, fans, and religious hangings, honing his skills in color and draftsmanship. By 1862, having saved enough, Renoir s...