from the Barnes Collection in Merion, Pennsylvania, USA
| One
of Renoir's biographers, Anne Distel, said that he had a "sensuous
vision" -- sensuality without sin. This painting was finished during
the period 1895-7 when Renior was 54-6. Towards the end of his life, Renoir
admitted to being drawn to sculpture. This reclining nude trompe l'oeil,
named La Source, seems to confirm that. In a series of nudes that Renoir painted during this period, they seem to have progressively become opulent, from a Young Girl Bathing in 1892 to a Bather in 1903 which a critique described as "a transfigured Rubens." Most of Renoir's nudes depicted bathing -- even the one above where the bather rests on her towel. This painting is one of 180 Renoirs held in the Barnes Collection -- along with 69 paintings by Cézanne and 60 by Matisse. |