The Great Bathers

Gallery 264, European Art 1850-1900, second floor (Women´s Committee Gallery)

Main Building

The Great Bathers

1884-1887

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919)

Although this painting depicts a fleeting moment when one bather playfully threatens to splash a companion, it has a timeless, monumental quality. The sculptural rendering of the figures against a shimmering landscape and the careful application of dry paint reflect the tradition of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French painting. Renoir--in an attempt to reconcile this tradition with modern painting--labored over this work for three years, making numerous preparatory drawings for individual figures and at least two full-scale, multifigure drawings. Faced with criticism of his new style after completing The Great Bathers, an exhausted Renoir never again devoted such painstaking effort to a single work.

Gallery 264, European Art 1850-1900, second floor (Women´s Committee Gallery)

Object Details

Title:

The Great Bathers

Date:

1884-1887

Artist:

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919)

Medium:

Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

46 1/4 × 67 5/16 inches (117.5 × 171 cm) Framed: 55 1/8 × 77 × 6 1/2 inches (140 × 195.6 × 16.5 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

The Mr. and Mrs. Carroll S. Tyson, Jr., Collection, 1963

Accession Number:

1963-116-13

Geography:

Made in France, Europe

Provenance

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Gallery 264, European Art 1850-1900, second floor (Women´s Committee Gallery)

Main Building

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