Pierre-Auguste Renoir – Fruits of the Midi

Fruits of the Midi – lemons, peppers and dark violet fruit on a white cloth

Fruits of the Midi is an oil painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, made in 1881. The original measures 51.0 x 65.0 cm, is catalogued as 1933.1176 and hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago. Our oil painting on canvas Fruits of the Midi is worked by hand in oil on canvas, in eight sizes from 80 x 60 to 170 x 130 cm.

The background is nothing but a wall of grey, green and violet strokes, without objects and without depth. That is deliberate: nothing competes with the fruit, so its colour carries all the more. The signature at the lower left reads Renoir .81.

The blue-and-white bowl as a quiet centre

A shallow blue-and-white dish stands on a white cloth, heaped with lemons, a large green-yellow citron at the centre, dark purple fruits and tomatoes, with a spray of green leaves spilling forward over the rim. In front of the dish and to its right more fruit lies loose: a long dark aubergine, red and orange peppers, small tomatoes, lemons, and at the right a pomegranate with a green-and-yellow pepper beside it.

Why hand-painted, not a print

Our version is not a print. The fruits are built from dense, short loads of paint that follow the shape of each one, while the cloth and the wall are laid in with broad, soft strokes. A hand-painted painting keeps that difference in the way the paint sits, which printed paper cannot imitate.

In the room

The subject is lively, red and yellow, and repays hanging in a dining room or a kitchen, though it works in a living room too as a point of colour on a quiet wall. On a moderate wall 90 x 70 cm works, on a spacious one 130 x 100 cm; on a broad wall it carries 170 x 130 cm, with 160 x 130 cm as the step before. Under 80 x 60 cm the individual fruit merge into a single red-yellow mass and the bowl loses its contents.

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. Fruits of the Midi 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: still life with fruits of the Midi on a white cloth, in a blue-and-white bowl, Pierre-Auguste Renoir
• Technique: hand-painted oil painting on canvas, stretched on a wooden frame
• Sizes: 8 sizes, from 80 x 60 cm to 170 x 130 cm, another size on request
• Detail worth knowing: the bowl is the only cool colour on the canvas – it is what gives the warm fruit their measure

See also:

• Still Life: Flowers
• Still Life with Bouquet and Fan
• Luncheon of the Boating Party