Still Life with Peaches
1881
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
21 x 25 1/2 in. (53.3 x 64.8 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 1960
Accession Number
61.101.12
Tags
Art Historical Context
Auguste Renoir's *Still Life with Peaches (1881), an oil on canvas measuring 21 x 25½ inches, exemplifies the Impressionist master's fascination with everyday beauty and the play of light. Painted during the height of the Impressionist movement in France, this work captures a simple arrangement of ripe peaches, their soft fuzz and glistening surfaces rendered with Renoir's signature loose, vibrant brushstrokes. As a still life, it showcases his ability to infuse ordinary objects with sensuous vitality, a departure from the academic rigor of earlier traditions. Renoir, a key figure in Impressi...
About the Artist
Auguste Renoir · 1841–1919
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) was a founding figure of Impressionism whose luminous depictions of Parisian leisure, sensuous female forms, and sun-dappled landscapes made him one of the most beloved painters in Western art history. Born in Limoges to a working-class family, Renoir began as a porcelain painter before pursuing fine arts, and this early craft experience gave him facility with the...