Pierre-Auguste Renoir – Woman at the Piano

Woman at the Piano – a white dress beside dark wood

Woman at the Piano is an oil painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, made in 1875–1876. The original measures 93.0 x 74.0 cm, is catalogued as 1937.1025 and hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago. Our oil painting on canvas Woman at the Piano is worked by hand in oil on canvas, in eight sizes from 65 x 80 to 140 x 170 cm.

The picture is not a portrait of a named person – the museum names none – but a moment of concentration. All the light gathers on the white dress and the music, and everything else withdraws into the darkness of the case and the soft green of the room.

The figure seen from the left

A young fair-haired woman sits at an upright piano, seen from her left. She wears a long white dress with a dark ribbon at the throat and a dark sash falling from the waist, and her hands rest on the keys. Open sheet music stands on the rack, flanked by two lit candles in brass holders. The case of the instrument is a deep, warm brown-black. At the left, behind her, a large green plant rises from a dark vase, and the room beyond is a soft blue-green worked in loose strokes.

Why hand-painted, not a print

Our version is not a print. The white dress is built from many thin, wet layers of blue, grey and rose worked into one another, while the dark case is laid broad and almost even. A hand-painted painting keeps that difference in the way the paint sits, which printed paper cannot imitate.

In the room

The subject is quiet, blue and white and settles well into a living room, a bedroom or a room where music is played or listened to. For a smaller space we advise 80 x 100 cm, for an open one 100 x 130 cm; on a tall wall 140 x 170 cm works, with 130 x 160 cm as the step before. Under 65 x 80 cm the white dress and the keys merge into a single light area and the figure loses the place she is sitting in.

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. Woman at the Piano 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: young woman at an upright piano in a long white dress, 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 figure is seen from the left and not head-on – the scene is watched from within the room, not arranged for the viewer

See also:

• Girls at the Piano
• After the Luncheon
• Luncheon of the Boating Party