Using thick and loose brushstrokes to cloak his subjects in light, Pierre-Auguste Renoir imbues his still life Nature morte aux raisins, figues et grenades, circa 1910, with an almost tactile quality. Carefully arranged on the table, the fruits look good enough to eat – the pomegranates are opened just enough to expose their delicious deep red seeds, while the rich, cooler skins of the purple grapes and green figs shimmer under the light overhead. Celebrating beauty, color and light in even the most mundane of subjects, Renoir consistently experimented with the notions of composition and space in all of his works. As a founding and renowned member of the Impressionist movement, Renoir in his still lifes helped to revitalize the tradition, combining a classical sensibility with Impressionistic tendencies to render his subjects.
“For me, a picture must be a pleasant thing, joyous and pretty yes, pretty. There are too many unpleasant things in life for us to fabricate still more.”
—Pierre-Auguste RenoirTaking inspiration from Cézanne’s notion of flattening the pictorial composition, Renoir imbues his inanimate objects with an almost human-like presence. The sumptuous colors of Nature morte aux raisins, figues et grenades help achieve this effect, creating a scene that could not have been possible without human intervention. The careful attention to light and shadow in the present work allows Renoir to represent the fruits as naturally as possible. Initially finding success in portraiture, Renoir became more exploratory later in his life and career, delving into other genres like still life and landscape. The painter once noted that painting still lifes “is a form of mental relaxation. I do not need the concentration that I need when I am faced with a model... I can experiment boldly with tones and values without worrying about destroying the whole painting.”i This experimentation is evident in the present work, in which he uses delicate yet vibrant colors to evoke the effects of light falling on the ripe fruits.
A detail of the present work. A founder of Impressionism alongside Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley and Frédéric Bazille, Renoir believed that art was meant to represent modern life. Painting en plein air alongside Monet on the banks of the Seine, he explored the notion of light on the rippling water, allowing for thick and visible brushstrokes to add emotion and energy into his paintings, which can be seen in the present work. Having stopped exhibiting with the Impressionists after 1877, Renoir traveled to Italy in 1881 to hone his studies in the classical traditions of Raphael and Titian, which in turn morphed his practice into one which was more linear and classical, characterized by more earth-toned palettes, as seen in this still life. His style again shifted around the time the present work was painted, opting for softened lines that blend the forms of his subjects with the background, not unlike the art of 18th century France. In this way, Nature morte aux raisins, figues et grenades reflects a combination of old and new influences, a work which, while reflective of the time in which it was painted, is timelessly beautiful.
Titian, The Penitent Saint Jerome, circa 1575. Museo Nacional Thysse-Bornemisza, Madrid. Image: Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza / Scala / Art Resource, NY i Pierre-Auguste Renoir, quoted in Renoir, exh. cat., Hayward Gallery, London, 1985, p. 183.
來源
巴黎現代藝術畫廊（1965年購）
巴黎Armand Amante收藏
法國私人收藏（繼承自上述來源）
倫敦，佳士得，2005 年 2 月 8 日，拍品編號 217
現藏者購自上述拍賣文學
Guy-Patrice and Michael Dauberville, Renoir Catalogue Raisonné des Tableaux, Pastels, Dessins et Aquarelles 1895-1902, vol. 3, Paris, 2010, no. 1711, pp. 33–34 (illustrated, p. 33, dated circa 1895–1900)
重要私人收藏
119
《靜物與葡萄、無花果和石榴》
款識：Renoir（左上方）
油彩 畫布
13 3/4 x 19 3/4 英吋 (34.9 x 50.2 公分)
約1895-1900年作，此作將被納入由Wildenstein Plattner學院贊助編錄的網上作品全集。
估價
$300,000 - 500,000
成交價$279,400
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+1 212 940 1288
adolan@phillips.com
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紐約拍賣 2023年11月15日
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