Fruits from the Midi

English

Fruits from the Midi: Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Price: Price on Request
Art Type: Oil Painting
Size:
English Comments: 0
International Comments: 0
Creating Date:
Introduction and Works of Pierre-Auguste Renoir >>

Contemporary-Art.org

Reproduction

Enlarge

Pierre-Auguste Renoir Oil Painting - Fruits from the Midi

Keywords: Fruits, Midi

Work Overview: Fruits of the Midi
1881
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Oil on canvas
51 x 65 cm (20 1/16 x 25 5/8 in.)
Inscribed lower left: Renoir 81
Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection

This work is featured in the online catalogue Renoir Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, the second volume in the Art Institute’s scholarly digital series on the Impressionist circle. The catalogue offers in-depth curatorial and technical entries on 25 artworks by Pierre-Auguste Renoir in the museum’s collection; entries feature interactive and layered high-resolution imaging, previously unpublished technical photographs, archival materials, and documentation relating to each artwork.

This still life is at once like and unlike what we expect of Renoir; it is full of surprises. A certain ruggedness of brushing, bulk, and drawing suggests Cezanne's influence; it may even have been painted while Renoir was visiting his friend at L'Estaque. But the profusion - there are no fewer than twenty-four fruits of many different varieties - is Renoir's and not Cezanne's. So, too, are the textural interest, the abundance of color, the preoccupation with the look and feel of things; the sustained interest in the variety of highlights is Renoir's, and so is the discovery of subtle decorative qualities of the subject.

The scalloped ellipse of the dish is the most obvious statement of a decorative theme. As the eye goes around the outermost edges of the whole still-life group, it describes a larger variant of this theme. Inside the cluster of fruit, and in single objects as well - the peppers, for instance - further echoes are present.

Opposed to this development on the left side of the canvas is the color arrangement. The bright reds are mainly on the right side, and with the peppers as the corners they form an almost perfect equilateral triangle. The dark purple-blues, the yellows and greens are reserved for the other side of the composition; but they are picked up by the fruits in the center of the triangle of red, as the red is echoed by the two globes at the left. Similarly, the purples are introduced into the pomegranates and in the cast shadows (which are quite unusual for Renoir at this period, again suggesting Cezanne). All the major colors are shot through the upper part of the background, and delicate nuances occur again in the tablecloth.

Other themes are in evidence: the globular, which is varied from the sphere to the egg shape; the elongated ellipses of the leaves; and the irregular, jerky movement of the stems, a variant on the white edge of the dish and a foil for the bursting fullness of the fruit.

-----------------------
Exhibition History

Probably Paris, Durand-Ruel, Exposition des oeuvres de P.-A. Renoir, Apr. 1–25, 1883, cat. 27, as Nature morte (Naples).

Possibly New York, National Academy of Design, Celebrated Paintings by Great French Masters, May 25–June 30, 1887, not in cat.

Possibly New York, Durand-Ruel, Paintings by Claude Monet and Pierre August Renoir, Apr. 1900, cat. 29, as Fruits du midi.

New York, Durand-Ruel, Exhibition of Paintings by Pierre Auguste Renoir, Nov. 14–Dec. 5, 1908, cat. 8, as Fruits du midi, 1881.

Possibly New York, Durand-Ruel, Exhibition of Paintings Representing Still Life and Flowers by Manet, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley, André d’Espagnat, Dec. 20, 1913–Jan. 8, 1914, cat. 14, as Fruits du midi.

Art Institute of Chicago, “A Century of Progress”: Loan Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, May 23–Nov. 1, 1933, cat. 343.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Museum of Art, Manet and Renoir, Nov. 29, 1933–Jan. 1, 1934, no cat. no.

Art Institute of Chicago, “A Century of Progress”: Loan Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture for 1934, June 1–Oct. 31, 1934, cat. 232.

Cambridge, Mass., Fogg Art Museum, Loan Exhibition of Paintings of Still Life, Apr. 28–May 24, 1947, no cat.

New York, Acquavella Galleries, Four Masters of Impressionism, Oct. 24–Nov. 30, 1968, cat. 29 (ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings by Renoir, Feb. 3–Apr. 1, 1973, cat. 36 (ill.).

Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), State Hermitage Museum, Ot Delakrua do Matissa: Shedevry frantsuzskoi zhivopisi XIX–nachala XX veka, iz Muzeia Metropoliten v N’iu-Iorke i Khudozhestvennogo Instituta v Chikago [From Delacroix to Matisse: Great masterpieces of French painting of the nineteenth to the beginning of the twentieth century from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Art Institute of Chicago], Mar. 15–May 16, 1988, cat. 22 (ill.); Moscow, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, May 30–July 30, 1988.

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago’s Dream, a World’s Treasure: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1893–1993, Nov. 1, 1993–Jan. 9, 1994, not in cat.
Publication History

Possibly Durand-Ruel, Paris, Catalogue de l’exposition des oeuvres de P.-A. Renoir, exh. cat. (Pillet & Dumoulin, 1883), p. 12, cat. 27.

Possibly Edmond Jacques [Edmond Bazire], “Beaux-arts: Exposition de M. P.-A. Renoir,” L’intransigeant, Apr. 11, 1883, p. 2.

Possibly Paul Gilbert, “Exposition de M. P.-A. Renoir,” Journal des artistes, Apr. 13, 1883, p. 1.

Possibly Durand-Ruel, New York, Exhibition of Paintings by Claude Monet and Pierre Auguste Renoir, exh. cat. (Durand-Ruel, New York, 1900), no. 29.

Durand-Ruel, New York, Exhibition of Paintings by Pierre Auguste Renoir, exh. cat. (Durand-Ruel, New York, 1908), no. 8.

Possibly Durand-Ruel, New York, Exhibition of Paintings Representing Still Life and Flowers by Manet, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley, André d’Espagnat, exh. cat. (Durand Ruel, New York, [1913]), cat. 14.

Art Institute of Chicago, A Guide to the Paintings in the Permanent Collection (Art Institute of Chicago, 1925), p. 162, cat. 2155.

M. C., “Renoirs in the Institute (Continued),” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 19, 4 (Apr. 1925), pp. 47, 49 (ill.).

Ambroise Vollard, Renoir: An Intimate Record, trans. Harold L. Van Doren and Randolph T. Weaver (Knopf, 1925), p. 240.

Julius Meier-Graefe, Renoir (Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1929), p. 153, no. 134.

Art Institute of Chicago, Catalogue of “A Century of Progress”: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture; Lent from American Collections, ed. Daniel Catton Rich, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1933), p. 49, cat. 343.

Daniel Catton Rich, “The Paintings of Martin A. Ryerson,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 27, 1 (Jan. 1933), p. 9.

Daniel Catton Rich, “Französische Impressionisten im Art Institute zu Chicago,” Pantheon: Monatsschrift für Freunde und Sammler der Kunst 11, 3 (Mar. 1933), p. 78. Translated by C. C. H. Dreschel as “French Impressionists in the Art Institute of Chicago,” Pantheon/Cicerone (Mar. 1933), p. 18.

Pennsylvania Museum of Art, “Manet and Renoir,” Pennsylvania Museum Bulletin 29, 158 (Dec. 1933), p. 19.

Art Institute of Chicago, Catalogue of “A Century of Progress”: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, 1934, ed. Daniel Catton Rich, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1934), p. 39, cat. 232.

Albert C. Barnes and Violette de Mazia, The Art of Renoir (Minton, Balch, 1935), pp. 77; 79; 88; 132; 453, no. 115.

Henry McBride, “The Renoirs of America: An Appreciation of the Metropolitan Museum’s Exhibition,” Art News 35, 31 (May 1, 1937), p. 60.

Rosamund Frost, Pierre August Renoir, Hyperion Art Monographs, ed. Aimèe Crane (Hyperion/Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1944), p. 43 (ill.).

“Chicago Perfects Its Renoir Group,” Art News 44, 16, pt. 1 (Dec. 1–14, 1945), p. 18 (ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, An Illustrated Guide to the Collections of the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 1945), p. 36.

Walter Pach, Pierre-August Renoir, Library of Great Painters (Abrams, 1950), pp. 72–73 (ill.). Translated as Auguste Renoir: Leben und Werk (M. DuMont Schauberg, 1976), pp. 109, pl. 13; 116; 168.

Dorothy Bridaham, Renoir in the Art Institute of Chicago (Conzett & Huber, 1954), pl. 6.

Michel Drucker, Renoir (Pierre Tisné, 1955), pl. 74; p. 154.

Bruno F. Schneider, Renoir (Safari, [1957]), pp. 61 (ill.), 68, 86. Translated into English by Desmond and Camille Clayton as Renoir (Crown, 1978), pp. 61 (ill.), 68, 86.

Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Art Institute of Chicago, 1961), p. 397.

Acquavella Galleries, Four Master of Impressionism, exh. cat. (Acquavella Galleries, 1968), cat. 29 (ill.).

Barbara Ehrlich White, “Renoir’s Trip to Italy,” Art Bulletin 51, 4 (Dec. 1969), pp. 338; 339; 341; fig. 26; 346, no. 20.

Charles C. Cunningham and Satoshi Takahashi, Shikago bijutsukan [Art Institute of Chicago], Museums of the World 32 (Kodansha, 1970), pp. 52, pl. 38; 160.

Elda Fezzi, L’opera completa di Renoir: Nel periodo impressionista, 1869–1883, Classici dell’arte 59 (Rizzoli, 1972), pp. 72, pl. 56; 110, cat. 486 (ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings by Renoir, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1973), pp. 100–01, cat. 36 (ill.); 210; 211.

Sophie Monneret, L’impressionnisme et son époque: Dictionnaire international illustré, vol. 2 (Denoël, 1979), p. 178 (ill.).

Barbara Ehrlich White, Renoir: His Life, Art, and Letters (Abrams, 1984), p. 166.

Richard R. Brettell, French Impressionists (Art Institute of Chicago/Abrams, 1987), pp. 66–67 (detail), 69 (ill.), 119.

Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), State Hermitage Museum, Ot Delakrua do Matissa: Shedevry frantsuzskoi zhivopisi XIX–nachala XX veka, iz Muzeia Metropoliten v N’iu-Iorke i Khudozhestvennogo Instituta v Chikago [From Delacroix to Matisse: Great masterpieces of French painting of the nineteenth to the beginning of the twentieth century from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Art Institute of Chicago], exh. cat. (Avrora, 1988), cat. 22 (ill.).

Sophie Monneret, Renoir, Profils de l’art (Chêne, 1989), p. 98, no. 1 (ill.).

Gilles Plazy, Cézanne, Profils de l’art (Chêne, 1991), p. 100, no. 2 (ill.).

Lesley Stevenson, Renoir (Bison, 1991), p. 119 (ill.).

Richard Verdi, Cézanne (Thames & Hudson, 1992), pp. 11, ill. 5; 211.

James Yood, Feasting: A Celebration of Food in Art; Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago/Universe, 1992), pp. 56–57, pl. 19 (ill. and detail).

Art Institute of Chicago, Treasures of 19th- and 20th-Century Painting: The Art Institute of Chicago, with an introduction by James N. Wood (Art Institute of Chicago/Abbeville, 1993), p. 85 (ill.).

Gerhard Gruitrooy, Renoir: A Master of Impressionism (Todtri, 1994), pp. 56–57 (detail), 65 (ill.).

Natalia Brodskaïa, Auguste Renoir: He Made Colour Sing, trans. Paul Williams, Great Painters (Parkstone/Aurora Art, 1996), pp. 134–135, no. 29.

Francesca Castellani, Pierre-Auguste Renoir: La vita e l’opera (Mondadori, 1996), p. 156 (ill.).

Douglas W. Druick, Renoir, Artists in Focus (Art Institute of Chicago/Abrams, 1997), pp. 53 (detail); 54–55; 57; 94, pl. 13; 110.

Pamela Todd, The Impressionists’ Table: A Celebration of Regional French Food through the Palettes of the Great Impressionists (Pavilion, 1997), pp. 156 (ill.), 192.

Art Institute of Chicago, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism in the Art Institute of Chicago, selected by James N. Wood (Art Institute of Chicago/Hudson Hills, 2000), p. 65 (ill.).

Gilles Néret, Renoir: Painter of Happiness, 1841–1919, trans. Josephine Bacon (Taschen, 2001), p. 146 (ill.)

Katsumi Miyazaki, “The Formal Elements of Renoir’s Art and His Relationship with Cézanne,” in Bridgestone Museum of Art and Nagoya City Art Museum, Renoir: From Outsider to Old Master, 1870–1892, trans. Yumiko Yamazaki, exh. cat. (Bridgestone Museum of Art/Nagoya City Art Museum/Chunichi Shimbun, 2001), pp. 183, fig. 64; 184; 237, fig. 64; 238.

Bruce Weber, The Heart of the Matter: The Still Lifes of Marsden Hartley, exh. cat. (Berry-Hill Galleries, 2003), p. 15, fig. 6.

Aviva Burnstock, Klaas Jan van den Berg, and John House, “Painting Techniques of Pierre-Auguste Renoir: 1868–1919,” Art Matters: Netherlandish Technical Studies in Art 3 (2005), p. 52.

Kyoko Kagawa, Runowaru [Pierre-Auguste Renoir], Seiyo Kaiga no Kyosho [Great masters of Western art] 4 (Shogakukan, 2006), p. 97 (ill.).

Guy-Patrice Dauberville and Michel Dauberville, with the collaboration of Camille Frémontier-Murphy, Renoir: Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins, et aquarelles, vol. 1, 1858–1881 (Bernheim-Jeune, 2007), p. 135, cat. 44 (ill.).

John House, The Genius of Renoir: Paintings from the Clark, with an essay by James A. Ganz, exh. cat. (Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute/Museo Nacional del Prado/Yale University Press, 2010), p. 96.

“Cat. 14: Fruits of the Midi, 1881,” in Renoir Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, ed. Gloria Groom and Jill Shaw (Art Institute of Chicago, 2014).
Ownership History

Probably sold by the artist to Durand-Ruel, Paris, May 23, 1882, for 600 francs. [1]

Possibly sold at Moore’s Art Galleries, New York, May 6, 1887, lot 92. [2]

Acquired by Durand-Ruel, New York, by Nov. 14, 1908. [3]

Sold by Durand-Ruel, New York, to Martin A. Ryerson, Chicago, Dec. 18, 1915, for $10,200. [4]

Bequeathed by Martin A. Ryerson (died 1932), Chicago, to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.

Copyright Statement:
All the reproduction of any forms about this work unauthorized by Singing Palette including images, texts and so on will be deemed to be violating the Copyright Laws.
To cite this webpage, please link back here.

>> English Comments >> Chinese Comments >> French Comments >> German Comments >>Report

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Work Overview