Pierre-Auguste Renoir – Blonde Bather

Blonde Bather – a look straight out of the painting

Blonde Bather is an oil painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, made in 1881. The original measures 65.4 cm x 81.6 cm, is recorded under inventory number 1955.609 and is held by the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown. Our oil painting on canvas Blonde Bather is worked by hand, in eight upright sizes from 65 x 80 to 140 x 170 cm.

A figure who looks back

The nude sits turned three-quarters towards the viewer, with a slight smile and her gaze directed straight out of the picture. Long red-gold hair falls over her right shoulder, and a white cloth is spread across her lap, held with her left hand. A ring is visible on her finger. Behind her the sea opens out with a low rocky coast, in blues, greens and pinks.

Why hand-painted, not a print

Our version is not a print. The canvas dates from the year of Renoir’s journey to Italy, and it was there that his turn towards firmer drawing and more smoothly modelled flesh began: the body is rounded and pale, while the sea and coast behind are painted broadly and softly. An oil painting on canvas Blonde Bather made by hand can hold both handlings on one surface; print levels them into a single plane.

In the room

The figure looks straight out of the painting, and that is the one rule this subject sets: it has to hang so that the look meets someone – at eye level, not too high above the furniture, where it would pass over people’s heads. So it belongs where people stop rather than merely walk past: a living room, a bedroom, or beside the entrance. For a room where you stand close, 100 x 120 cm is enough. Where the wall is large and the painting is seen from a distance it carries 140 x 170 cm, and there the figure becomes larger than life and the scene takes on the weight of a portrait. The smallest size, 65 x 80 cm, is the measurement of the original and suits a narrow wall, with 90 x 110 cm as the middle step.

What you receive

We paint the canvas to order, by hand and for you alone, so every copy is made on its own; the canvas is usually painted and dried within three to four weeks. If you prefer, we will paint it in a size that is not on the list. Before despatch we send you a photograph of the finished canvas for your approval, and only then does the painting go out. Blonde Bather arrives stretched on a wooden frame and ready to hang, wrapped in protective film and in rigid packaging, with no further stretching or finishing needed.

• Subject: seated nude figure with fair hair and a white cloth, Pierre-Auguste Renoir
• Technique: hand-painted oil painting on canvas, stretched on a wooden frame
• Sizes: 8 sizes, from 65 x 80 cm to 140 x 170 cm, another size on request
• Detail worth knowing: the painting is from the year of Renoir’s journey through Italy, after which he turned to a firmer drawing

See also:

• Bathers with a Crab
• Young Girl Bathing
• After the Bath