Description
“I just let my brain rest when I paint flowers,” Pierre-Auguste Renoir remarked. “I don’t experience the same tension as I do when confronted by the model. When I am painting flowers, I establish the tones, I study the values carefully without worrying about losing the picture. I don’t dare do this with a figure piece for fear of ruining it.”
Provenance
The artist (d. 1919); sold to Durand-Ruel, Paris, Dec. 14, 1882, for 600 francs. [per Durand-Ruel, Paris, stock book for 1880–84 (no. 2650), as confirmed by Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel, Durand-Ruel Archives, to Gloria Groom, Apr. 2, 2014, e-mail correspondence, curatorial object file]; transferred to Durand-Ruel, New York, 1897. [per Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel, Durand-Ruel Archives, to Gloria Groom, Apr. 2, 2014, e-mail correspondence, curatorial object file]; sold to Martin A. Ryerson (d. 1932), Chicago, Feb. 17, 1915, for $7,500. [per Durand-Ruel Archives, as confirmed by Caroline Durand-Ruel Godfroy, Durand-Ruel Archives, to the Art Institute of Chicago, Dec. 13, 1994, curatorial object file]; bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.
Accession Number
16617
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
54.8 × 65.8 cm (21 5/8 × 25 7/8 in.); Framed: 75.3 × 86.4 × 10.8 cm (29 5/8 × 34 × 4 1/4 in.)
Classification
painting
Credit Line
Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection
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