Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Nineteenth-century Parisians were avid consumers of illustrated journals. Renoir’s intimate painting of Aline Charigot, a young dressmaker who later became his wife, shares its focus with a newspaper spread of fashionable figures. Closely cropping the view, Renoir partially conceals his model’s face but captures her profile. He highlights the tone of her skin by opposing its warmth with the cool blue and white of the journal’s pages. Matching his brushstrokes to the textures of her costume and brilliant red hair, he then beckons viewers to the curve of her armchair and invites them to read over her shoulder.