Auguste Renoir (1890) - Landscape at Vétheuil

Tall grasses lead back to a body of water and then perhaps a town in this loosely painted, horizontal landscape. Brushstrokes are visible throughout, and the color palette is saturated with dark, jewel-toned blue and green, a few touches of citrine yellow, and rosy pinks. Tall, straight strokes suggest marshy grasses along the front two-thirds of the painting, and shorter flicks in slightly cooler greens to the left could be bushes. The water is streaked with pale pink across sapphire blue. Strokes beyond that suggest white-walled buildings with muted red roofs in a town tucked between trees in the distance. The horizon comes three-quarters of the way up this composition, and the sky above is painted thinly with pale purple, pink, and blue. The texture of the canvas shows through in many areas, especially around the edges and in the sky. The artist signed the lower center, “renoir.”