Vladimir Horowitz: Scenes from Childhood (Schumann)

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, *Baigneuses*, Signed Renoir (lower left), Oil on canvas, 18 1/8 by 15 in., Image Source: Sotheby’s

“Renoir’s lavish scenes of frolicking bathers were some of the most celebrated compositions of his mature career, and Baigneuses is a beautiful and richly-painted example of this theme. The composition is one of Renoir’s more realistic portrayals of public bathing and features the subjects in the modest swimwear that was common during this era. The two figures in the foreground are probably based on the models Julie Manet and her cousin, who appeared in several of Renoir’s pictures from the early 1890s wearing the same ribboned bonnets.”
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