Pierre-Auguste Renoir – Springtime (in Chatou)

Springtime (in Chatou) – the even, blurred surface of a spring meadow

Springtime (in Chatou) is an oil painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir from 1875. The original measures 74 cm x 59 cm and is in a private holding. We paint our version by hand in oils on canvas, in eight landscape sizes, from 50 x 40 to 150 x 120 cm. Among them is 74 x 59 cm, exactly the measurement of the original.

Moisture, sun and grass in a single surface

The painting is markedly even. The blurred surface joins the shades of moisture, sunlight, blades of grass, butterflies and flowers into a whole in which no single object steps out of the background. Into the distance the painter has also set a figure, which is likewise part of that surface rather than its centre of weight. The scene therefore does not rest on the drawing of objects, but on how the colours overlap one another and how thick the paint lies at any given point.

Why hand-painted, not a print

Our version is not a print. It is precisely the even, blurred surface that a print cannot manage: the screen needs an edge, and where the painting has none it invents one – the grass breaks into bands and the butterflies turn into patches with an outline. A hand-painted canvas keeps the passage between blade and light soft, as it is, and leaves the paint thinner in one place and denser in another. The figure in the distance stays barely indicated, which is exactly its purpose.

In the room

The subject is quiet and even, with no single point pulling the eye, so it works well where a painting should not shout down the room: in a bedroom, a study or a hallway. For an ordinary room we suggest 74 x 59 cm, which is also the measurement of the original, or 90 x 70 cm. On a large wall 130 x 105 or 150 x 120 cm works, and there the blurred surface opens out and comes to resemble a window more than a picture. At 50 x 40 cm the scene draws together into a single green area.

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. Springtime (in Chatou) 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: spring meadow with butterflies and flowers, a figure in the distance, Pierre-Auguste Renoir
• Technique: hand-painted oil painting on canvas, stretched on a wooden frame
• Sizes: 8 sizes, from 50 x 40 cm to 150 x 120 cm, another size on request
• Detail worth knowing: the scene is deliberately even: moisture, light, grass and flowers overlap in one surface, and the figure in the distance is barely indicated

See also:

• Le Pont de Chatou
• Les Grands Boulevards
• Le Pont Neuf