The Seine at Argenteuil
Pierre Auguste Renoir, The Seine at Argenteuil, 1874, oil on canvas, Bequest of Winslow B. Ayer, public domain, 35.26
This work is not currently on view.
- Title
The Seine at Argenteuil
- Artist
- Date
1874
- Period
Impressionist
- Medium
oil on canvas
- Dimensions (H x W x D)
19 3/4 in x 25 3/4 in
- Inscriptions & Markings
signature: Renoir, brushed, lower right
- Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary Art
- Category
Paintings
- Object Type
painting
- Culture
French
- Credit Line
Bequest of Winslow B. Ayer
- Accession Number
35.26
- Copyright
public domain
- Terms
The quaint river-town of Argenteuil, on the banks of the Seine River, is a quick fifteen-minute train ride from the center of Paris. During the 1870s and 1880s Argenteuil became an important source of inspiration for the impressionist artists, who immortalized its river views, bridges, streets, and gardens in their paintings—setting it apart from neighboring villages.
One of the foremost “myths” about Renoir and his work is that he was primarily known for his paintings of human figures—often well-endowed women, and thus contributed very little to plein-air landscape painting. The Seine at Argenteuil, painted in the summer of 1874, clearly dispels any doubt that Renoir was as accomplished a landscape painter as Monet, Sisley, or Pissarro, achieving an utterly personal style. Interestingly, Renoir painted this work alongside his friend Claude Monet, whose painting of the same scene, Sailboats at Argenteuil, 1874, is in a private collection in Switzerland.
- Exhibitions
1980 The Phillips Taste in Portland Portland Art Museum
1998 Essay on Impressionism Portland Art Museum
2003 Paris to Portland: Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masters in Portland Collections Portland Art Museum
